


Buried

by Anotsukai



Category: Wolverine And The X-Men (Cartoon)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 20:27:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 43,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4493547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anotsukai/pseuds/Anotsukai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During one of the Brotherhood's raids, something goes terribly wrong and Toad ends up being buried alive under a building. He waits for someone to finally save. He expected it to be his team, not the X-man.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Buried
> 
>  
> 
> Chapter 1
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This may be a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> This is one of my older fanfics that I am currently uploading here. It is complete..though I might not have all the chapters up today but will try. 
> 
> Please leave feedback! Hope you enjoy this crazy story of mine. :)  
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

"Every out!" Pietro orders.

Avalanche, Domino, Blob, and Toad get out of the vehicle and join their leader's side. Before them is a large, office like building. One that is about to get a little reconstruction work done.

"Domino and Blob, watch out for the MRD. Slow them down if they show up. Avalanche, when we are clear, bring it to the ground. Toad, you get to lookout duty in the back," Pietro orders.

Toad smiles. This is the first time that Pietro is allowing him to be not only useful but trusted in watching Pietro's back. He remembers Pietro going over the plan with them at their hideout and the shock and grumbling of the other team mates when Pietro revealed Toad's role in their plan. He really thought Pietro would change his mind when they got to the site. So he was in seventh heaven as he quickly hops to the back of the building, making sure to stay in the shadows.

He watches the other buildings and houses nearby, looking away only to spit some slime at a sign that says this property supports anti-mutant legislation, when he hears a loud strange thud coming from inside the building. Was it even possible for someone to be attacking Pietro? Maybe this was an MRD trap? He reacts without thinking and hops over to the back door. He pushes the door and is relieved when it opens easily. Maybe a little too easily his mind cautions.

The inside it is pitch dark. Moving slowly, Toad enters the building.

"Hey Pietro? Everything alright?" Toad calls out, struggling to keep his voice even. The empty dark building is creeping him out. He finds this to be a little too much like those scenes in horror movies that Avalanche and Domino like to watch. Another sound, this of shattering glass is heard to his right. He takes a deep breath and carefully moves in the direction of the noise.

"Pietro?"

He spots a door move just slightly before him. He opens it and tries to peer into the darkness. Is Pietro down here? He knows that the white haired man with incredible speed is searching for some kind of document. Or is it documents? Details like that always seemed to slip his mind. He thinks this is something that his team actually appreciates. After all, if he can't remember the small details, he can't give them to Wraith when he gets captured...again. He glares into the darkness as if he could glare at the thought. Not the time for that, he tells himself.

Sliding his foot along the ground, he realizes that he is at the top of a staircase. Swallowing, he slowly descends the stairs. He starts to consider just stopping and going back the way he comes when the ground starts to shake.

"Oh no! No not now!" Toad cries out as he turns and tries to hurry up the steps.

But without steady ground or seeing the steps, Toad's foot slips, sending him falling towards his left. The momentum sends him over the unseen metal railing and he falls down into darkness. When he hits the ground, he lands hard on his left shoulder, sending extreme pain throughout his body. He cries out and tries to get back on his feet, his mind in a complete stage of panic. Unable to do so however, he takes to curling himself into a tight ball as the building collapses above him. In the chaos, he prays to somehow come out of this alive.

Hours later, Toad's eyes open slowly. During the collapse of the building, he must have passed out. At first he was very confused as to where he was. Then the burning pain in his left shoulder reminded him of what had happened. He grits his teeth from the pain before wiping the dust from his eyes. He realizes he is covered in dust and even some debris. Toad wonders how he managed not to be squished until he looks up.

There, above him were several thick beams that somehow managed to cross on top of each other in such a way that it actually was keeping the massive debris from falling on top of him. He hears the sounds of metal grinding and more dust and loose debris falls down. Walking around slowly, holding his hurt arm in a futile attempt to lessen the pain, he tries to find some sort of exit.

All he finds is a small gap that he could possible wave his unhurt arm out to catch someone's attention. As long as he could pile some of the debris somehow and stand on it. There's no way he could simply stick to the wall with his arm messed up. Deciding this is the only way out, he slowly pushes large pieces of building over to the gap. Every time he got one where he wanted though, he would then have to sit down for a long period of time. The pain in his shoulder would make him feel nauseous.

After some time he looks at the pile he has. The debris he has piled up is up at an angle against the wall. Focusing on the opening, he takes a deep breath and carefully climbs on top of his makeshift pile. He hopes with each step that none gives way. He manages to get to the gap and is able to peer out.

The first thing he notices is that it is a bright sunny day outside. This makes him worry for he didn't think he was out that long. Or that he had take that long to set that pile up. The second thing he notices is the silence. He couldn't hear any noise. Not a barking dog, cars driving pass, nor a siren. Shouldn't there be emergency sirens? Even though the building was clear of any civilians, there should have been police or MRD sirens.

The last thing he notices is the damage. He didn't like what he is seeing. There is so much rubble. Even the trees that were nearby had fallen. Something seems to be missing to him as he carefully shifts to look about more. Then it dawns on him. The other buildings, the houses, are all gone as well. That wasn't part of the plan. His mind scrambles over the meeting they had. Did he miss that particular detail? With Quicksilver's speed, he could have checked the other locations to make sure they were also empty before giving the word to Avalanche. He hears the faint sounds of the sirens finally as he steps back away from the gap. As he crouches himself down against the wall, he tries to figure out what had gone wrong.

As the day passed and night came, Toad did his best to not draw any attention to himself. Outside he heard the shouts and activity of emergency crews and then the MRD gathering evidence. He has been having a hard time taking in what they were actually saying, for earlier he ended up getting hit in the head with a bit of plaster. After the ringing in his ears stopped, he was left with a serious migraine. Too much movement and the room would be spinning.

He is quickly reaching his wits end. The pain from his migraine is only out done by the agonizing pain in his shoulder. And the one noise he could hear, the groaning of the metal beams above him as they shift just slightly, is scaring him. How much longer does he have before he gets flattened? He doesn't want to get caught by the MRD, to get locked into a cell again. He would be held responsible for this. Depending how bad things are would depend on how bad they would treat him. Add the fact that he is growing thirstier by the minute and his last bug free meal is starting to seem like it was days ago, well, it was adding a bit too much pressure to his nerves.

More loose debris falls. Any treatment Wraith and his buddies dish out would be better than being crushed to death he decides. He climbs back over the debris and peers out of the gap. He strains his ears, listening for any sound. Again silence. Toad notices the yellow police tape criss crossing with the red MRD tape. Cursing himself for not acting sooner, Toad waits. After some time, he somehow falls asleep as he leans against the building.

A stone being kicked into the gap wakes him with a jolt. Instantly he looks up at the cross beams, expecting to see them rush down on him. Then he hears the voices.

"This is terrible."

"How could the Brotherhood do such a thing?"

"Ah don't get it. When ah was with em, they tried their best not to harm innocent civilians."

"Times have changed Rogue. So has the Brotherhood."

Toad stands up and looks out of his gap. He knows those voices. X-men. The one group that he could never wrap his head around. He almost considers waiting for them to leave and wait for the MRD to return. Almost. When more debris falls down he reaches out with his unhurt arm and grabs the ankle of someone walking by.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 2
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This may be a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! Hope you enjoy this crazy story of mine. :)  
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ahh!" Yells whoever Toad had grabbed. He lets go of the ankle quickly but watches the person he had grabbed fall backwards. He flinches when the man lands on his back.

"Forge, the idea behind a stealth mission is to be silent," a voice growls out. "And what are you doing over there? You are suppose to be in the MRD van and copying their intel."

"Ugh. Not my fault that something grabbed me," the man that had fallen mutters.

Toad watches the man sit up, rubbing his lower back as he does so. There is a very small light coming from the man's goggles, letting Toad get a better view of the X-man he tripped up. The man is dressed entirely in black but Toad could still see the X-man symbols on his uniform. The man looks over at him and Toad notices the dark hair and beard on what seems to be a young face. A new recruit maybe? It's certainly not one of the X-men he's faced before.

"Hey! There is someone over here!" The man calls out.

"Are you sure Forge? If it's another mannequin..."

"That was one time. Give me a break already! And yes I'm sure because I'm looking right at him!" The man replies with annoyance.

Toad backs away from the gap when the other X-men join the man he tripped. Standing up, the man points over to the gap. His small light makes Toad's large golden eyes shine as he stares at them.

"Toad," Wolverine growls as he walks closer to the gap, crouching down to glare at the Brotherhood mutant.

"Uh...hey?" Toad offers weakly after a few minutes of silence. He is starting to really regret not waiting for the MRD to come back. He is not liking how the team of goodie goodies are looking at him. It's almost like how the non mutants look at him. Disgusted.

"Kitty, get him out of there. Then we are going to question him. And he will answer all our questions," Wolverine states firmly.

Toad shivers and moves away even further. A bit of rubble gives way and he ends up falling back on his rear. He grimaces in pain for a few minutes before opening his eyes and seeing a familiar young lady phased through the wreckage, looking at him angrily.

"Give me your hand," she instructs him.

Knowing he is already in hot water, he reaches out. Kitty grabs his hand and pulls backwards. To help, Toad kicks off the ground. The sensation of going through the wreckage is certainly the strangest sensation Toad has ever felt in his life. But before he could think of a word to describe the sensation, the minute his feet touch solid ground, someone grabs the front of his shirt and lifts him up.

"What were you thinking?! What were any of you thinking?! What was worth all this?!" Cyclops yells at him, shaking him harder with each sentence.

"Let him go Summers. Now," Wolverine orders, stepping forward.

Cyclops does and turns away for a moment before looking back.

"We need to turn him over to the MRD Logan," Cyclops comments.

Toad slinks to the ground and daring himself, he looks around at their surroundings. He shivers at the eeriness of the sight around them. It wasn't just a few other building that had collapsed. It was a few blocks of buildings that had collapsed. As he looks around he see's once standing buildings now nothing but piles of bricks or splintered wood, vehicles were either sticking out of the ground or were crushed by trees. To his left he could see the expressway clearly that before was blocked by buildings like a protective wall. The extent of the damage makes Toad feel sick to his stomach.

Before he could look over to his right, Wolverine moves to stand before him.

"Stand up," the X-man orders.

Swallowing nervously, Toad complies with the order.

"Hands behind your back."

"Ah, something is wrong with my...my left shoulder. I can't move that arm well," Toad tells him quietly, waiting for the claws to come out for daring to speak.

The X-man glares at him for a few minutes before moving closer to the toad like mutant. When he takes Toad's arm, Toad looks away in fear. Suddenly Wolverine places his free hand on Toad's shoulder and with a quick movement, forces the shoulder back into place.

"Ah!" Toad cries out in surprise. He steps away from the X-man before noticing the pain that was coming from his shoulder is suddenly gone. He moves it slowly, looking for any signs of permeant injury. A cough draws his attention back to the others surrounding him.

"Like I said before, arms behind your back," Wolverine repeats.

Toad does so, though still being cautious with his left arm.

"Iceman," Wolverine calls out.

The familiar ice covered X-men walks over to Toad. Pointing his finger, he creates ice cuffs around Toad's wrists, freezing them behind his back.

"All set," Iceman replies.

"Take him to the Blackbird and secure him. Everyone else, let's finish what we came to do. Kitty, make sure Forge here finds his way to the MRD van without any further issues," Wolverine orders.

Toad notices them all nod before a freezing hand pushes him forward. Silently, he allows himself to be led away.

Hours later, he is standing in a large cell like room. They had taken him back to the institute that he remembers Rogue use to tell him about when she was a member of their team. He used to think she was exaggerating greatly about the place. No way a place so huge could exist. Yet here he is. He wasn't given any tour but everything he did manage to see was simply huge. Even the elevator they led him into earlier seemed like it could be used for a bedroom.

As he looks around his simple yet also large cell, Toad is growing more afraid as he waits. They hadn't said much when they flew back here. In fact, they didn't say anything at all. It was like they didn't trust him, not even with complaints. Wolverine, Cyclops, and Beast had led him to this cell. He was warned not to cause any trouble and then they quietly left. But he knows they will come back. They had questions. And even though Toad doubted he had any real answers for them, they were still going to ask.

He sighs when the door opens and see's Wolverine enter the room. Here we go he thinks unhappily.

"Alright Toad. I need some answers. And I am not in the mood for any games. So how about you start with telling me what your team was up to?" Wolverine asks as he pulls his mask back, looking Toad directly in the eyes.

"Uh...okay. Umm...we were hitting the place to get a...document. Maybe documents. Pietro...eh, Quicksilver, was to go in and get whatever the documents were. Then Avalanche would...destroy the building. Then we would leave. That was the plan," Toad reveals. He doesn't think he provided anything useful. He certainly isn't betraying the team.

"Uh huh. And getting buried was part of the plan? Or wiping out the whole area?" Logan questions.

"N-no," Toad answers quietly.

"What went wrong?" Logan continues.

"I...I don't know. I heard something and went into the building. Then Avalanche started shaking up the place," Todd replies. He tries to read Wolverine's expression but the man is stoned face.

"What were the documents you were planning on stealing?"

"I don't know. I wasn't told exactly what they were. Something against mutants," Toad offers the thought weakly.

"Not liking your answers Toad," Wolverine comments with a sigh.

"I'm...sorry?" Toad replies. He knows that sigh, it's the same one Pietro often used after any conversation he had with Toad. So he knows what The X-man was thinking. "I am sorry I'm not very useful to you."

Wolverine's eyes widen just slightly at the apology. He was just thinking that he is wasting his time being gentle with the Brotherhood mutant. Was that the reason for the apology? Shaking his head, he decides it's time to push the toad like mutant.

"Do you now what you and your team did?" Wolverine asks.

"I...I told you everything I knew," Toad replies.

"Forge, show him the footage," Wolverine orders.

Toad looks around in surprise, thinking that he must have over looked a second person in the room. Suddenly a screen appears on the wall in front of him. News footage plays, showing a reporter standing before the wreckage.

"Approximately at eleven o'clock last night, the mutant terrorist group known as the Brotherhood struck the former MRD research facility. For reasons unknown, they not only destroyed the facility but a total of nine blocks that surrounded the facility. The number of casualties have not been confirmed but the last count was at eleven people including a nine year old girl who was simply sleeping in her bed. This girl, Rebecca Thompson, was identified by her mother, an ER nurse, early this morning," the man reports.

Wolverine watches Toad's reaction to the news report. Toad had winked to the floor, his eyes wide as he watches the news report. When the image of the little girl comes onto the screen, Toad starts to cry silently. Wolverine simply gets up and leaves Toad alone as the footage continues to play.

Meanwhile, Cyclops and Forge are in the security room monitoring the cell that Toad is in. They watch Logan leave the cell.

"I don't understand why Logan brought him here. It's obvious he knows nothing useful. We should just hand him over to the MRD," Cyclops fumes as he glares at the screen.

"I'm sure Logan has his reasons," Forge says calmly.

"For bringing a murderer here? A child murderer?" Cyclops questions.

"But he didn't kill those people. Heck, he almost got killed too!" Forge points out. He doesn't like listening to Cyclops trying to place all the blame on the amphibian like mutant. He is responsible to some degree, Forge couldn't argue that, but he isn't the only one responsible.

"He should have died. And that little girl should have lived," Cyclops states firmly, making Forge look at him in disbelief.

"You can't possibly mean that, Scott," Forge replies weakly.

"Replay the part about the little girl when this report is finished. Put it on a repeated loop," Cyclops orders.

Forge enters a few key commands before getting up and glaring at Scott.

"You hit this button and the loop you want will play. But I'm not going to do it for you. I'm not going to torture him for you," Forge tells him angrily before storming out of the room.

"He's a murderer Forge! Don't forget that!" Cyclops yells at the mechanic before the door closes between the two.

Cyclops turns back to the screen and zooms in on Toad's face, seeing the other mutants tears.

"You can't possibly shed enough tears for what you've done," Cyclops states, ignoring his own tears that are leaking from under his visor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 3
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This may be a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> Next chapter our favorite pair meet!  
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

It's hours later before anyone enters the cell again. By then, Toad barely notices. He is sitting in the corner starring at the repeated loop displaying the little girl's image over and over again. Rogue looks over her former team mate. There are scratches and a few cuts on his arms and legs. Some areas look darker green but with Toad's skin, it's hard to tell if they are bruises or not. He is covered in dust, some coloring his dreadlocks grey rather than their natural black.

She takes in these observations and thinks about what she knows about him. He was the weakest member of the Brotherhood. Some of the members hated him while the others pitied him. She wonders if he was ever aware of their feelings. Did he know hers? How she felt sorry for him and wished he had found some safe haven rather than join the Brotherhood that only tried to use him for Pietro's purposes? If he had, he wouldn't have been involved in something like this.

She sighs and looks over at the display screen. It takes her a few minutes to realize it was playing the same few minutes over and over again. How long had that been going on? She had understood Logan's reason for revealing to them the outcome of the Brotherhood's latest scheme but this was something else. Something almost cruel.

She walks in front of the screen, deliberately blocking Toad's view. Toad blinks once then twice. Recognition sets in, seen noticeably in his large eyes.

"Rogue?" Toad whispers.

"Hey Toad," she greets, offering him just a small smile.

"Are you here to take my memories?" Toad asks directly, his body tensing.

"Take your memories? Why would ya something like that for?" Rogue asks, being thrown off by his question.

"To see if I'm holding something back. Maybe I have information that I don't know or something..." Toad answers.

"Ah ain't here for that. Ah just wanted to see if ya were hungry or needed anything," she tells him, hoping her answer relaxes him.

"You don't need to be nice to me. I know you feel the same as the others. Go ahead and touch me. Take my memories and share them with the others," Toad replies, his voice becoming strained.

Rogue kneels down in front of him, making sure they are at the same eye level.

"Ah already told you that ah ain't here to do that to you..." She starts to repeat when suddenly Toad pushes against the wall behind him and launches himself forward.

Rogue throws herself backwards but isn't quick enough to avoid Toad's fingers slide against her exposed cheek. Despite the touch being brief, Toad feels the sensation of being shocked and drained at the same painful moment and he falls to his side. Rogue begins to move away from him but stops herself as the memories of the meeting and of the events of that night play out in her mind. She also hears his mental apologies. She reaches out with her gloved hand and strokes his cheek. He looks up at her, feeling too weak from everything to move his body. Rogue knows the look on his face. Gratitude.

"Ah'll go get you some food and water. Try to take it easy," Rogue instructs him as she gets up.

She watches him nod his head weakly before simply closing his eyes. She glances back at the display for a moment before leaving the cell. Anger builds up in her with every step. From Toad's mind she knew he didn't know this would happen. That this wasn't the plan the Brotherhood had gone over with him. It was suppose to be his moment of feeling useful for a change. Of feeling trusted. Promises that she knew the Brotherhood had made to him when they found him. He didn't deserve how they treated him. Nor how he was being treated at this moment.

She goes straight to the security room, planning to lash out at Forge for playing the accursed loop. It certainly wasn't something she would have expected from the fellow X-man. Heck, his place on the team was almost identical to Toad's on the Brotherhood. When the door opens however, she is surprised to find not Forge inside but Scott.

"Are you...are you the one doing that?" Rogue asks, pointing to the display on the monitor.

"Yes," Scott answers

"Why?" Is the only question she can think of to ask. Since Jean's disappearance and then when she simply left, he has changed so much from the leader he once was. This was just another example.

"Do I really need to answer that? I saw what he did to you. If he wasn't already knocked out, I would have dealt with him," Scott replies, the venom in his voice apparent.

"He was desperate Scott. He really believed that was why I was there. To see for myself that he didn't know that was going to happen. He wanted someone to believe him when he said that he didn't know," she replies angrily. "This wasn't planned Scott!"

"So what then? We tell him it's okay and let him go so he can go on another mission? One where he could possibly kill even more people? It doesn't matter that it wasn't part of the plan or that he was caught in the aftermath! He's responsible! For every person that died as a result of their actions, that person's blood is on his hands! And he should be held accountable for it!" Scott yells at her, getting up from his seat and starting to advance towards her.

"So you are ready to have his blood on your hands then?" Rogue asks, glaring at Scott who suddenly stops at the question.

"What are you implying?" Scott asks.

"Ah ain't implying nothing. Let's be honest. You want to go into that cell and knock him around. You want to make him pay personally," Rogue throws at him.

"That...that's not true Rogue. I am just tired of them doing whatever they want, giving all mutants a bad name, and we get stuck cleaning up their mess! I'm tired of it! I won't be the one to be blamed for that little girl's death all because we both have an X-gene!" Scott admits.

"That's enough you two," Wolverine calls out. Both X-men turn around and face their reluctant leader. "Scott, go find Forge and send him back in here. I want that loop turned off."

Scott frowns as he lowers his head and storms pass Rogue and Logan. Once he is out of sight, Wolverine sighs and looks over at Rogue.

"Anything I should know?" Logan asks.

"Ah...ah saw his mind," Rogue admits.

"You should have..." Logan starts to reprimand the young mutant.

"Ah didn't do it intentionally. He...he thought ah was sent in to do it and ah was trying to be nice and deny it. So he touched me," Rogue explains.

Hearing about Toad's actions surprises him. Surely the toad like mutant knew what would happen if he touched her. Toad always came off as cocky with his buddies around but Logan would bet that if you got him alone, he would should his true colors. That he is really an insecure and nothing less than a coward.

"So what did you learn from his mind?" Logan asks, turning his focus to the monitor screen which displays Toad still laying on the ground.

"He didn't know the outcome of what happened until you showed him. This wasn't part of their plan. Ah hate to say this but it seems to have been a very unfortunate accident," Rogue shares.

"I see," Logan replies.

"Logan?"

"Yeah kid?"

"We won't turn him over to the MRD will we?" Rogue asks. Even as the affects of absorbing Toad's mind is fading, this question is still present in her mind. Except it isn't whether they will or not but when will they turn him over.

"No, we won't be turning him over. They would just make an example out of him. And if my ol buddy Moss gets him, I doubt he would survive. No, he'll be staying right where he is for the time being. Let me ask you this since you know him better than anyone else. Could he be a danger to anyone?" Logan asks.

"Only to himself," Rogue replies without hesitation.

Logan doesn't reply, simply watches the screen for a few minutes.

"Ah was gonna get him some food and water," Rogue tells him, hoping he will let her go.

"That's a good idea. Show him where the door is for the restroom. It's easy to miss with how those walls are," Logan tells her.

Rogue nods and is about to walk out of the room.

"Who do you think he could...open up to around here?" Logan asks, struggling to find the right words. Rogue's earlier answer bothers him.

"Hmm...Ah don't know. He knows me. Ah think you and Hank kinda scare him," she replies thoughtfully. She thinks it over and a earlier thought returns to her. "You could try Forge. No offense to either of them but they kinda...have a similar position. Kurt too, maybe. I don't know about the others. Ah guess it depends on how they view him. If they think he should be punished like Scott, then keep em away from him. Why do you ask?"

"Heh, just something to keep in mind, Rogue. That's all. Go on and try to get him to eat," Logan replies.

Rogue nods and leaves the security room, seeing Forge walking towards her, on his way to the security room.

"Hey Forge?" Rogue calls out.

"Rogue? What's up? I was told I was needed in the security room," Forge responds, wondering if she knew if he was being held responsible for that darn loop.

"Ah will only be a second. What are your thoughts on this situation? On him?" Rogue asks, hoping she didn't have to explain who she was talking about. Forge is known for missing the obvious sometimes.

"Toad right? Eh, well, he was involved in something he shouldn't of been. But he should be held somewhat responsible but not have all the responsibility placed on him. If...if he owns up to his part in things and is sorry, then there really isn't anything more to it. Uh, am I making any sense?" Forge asks, looking a bit between confusion and hopeful.

Rogue couldn't help but smile. Why she didn't see the similarities before when they are so obvious. If they were to get to know each other, would they become friends or end up hating each other? She is suddenly very curious to see the outcome between them.

"Yeah, ah understand. Logan's waiting," Rogue tells him, smiling even more at the sight of his relief.

They pass each other, Rogue heading to the kitchen while Forge enters the security room.

"Turn off that loop," Logan orders.

"Gladly," Forge mutters as he sits down in the second chair and enters a few commands, making the footage disappear from the wall of the cell.

He glances up at one of the monitors and notices Toad laying on the floor.

"Is...everything alright?" Forge asks, clearly concerned.

"Don't know yet. Listen, we are going to have to keep an eye on him. You get first watch. When you feel that you can't stay awake any longer, look for either Kurt or Rogue. If neither of them are awake, then wake me up. If needed, you can enter his cell but be careful. He is known for escaping the MRD detainment camps," Logan explains.

"So he's what? A prisoner?" Forge asks, not liking the word leaving his mouth.

"For the time being, yes. But right now I am more concern about him becoming...more of an issue," Logan states, thinking again of Rogue's words. "I need to go see Charles then look into some other matters."

Logan gets up and leaves the security room. Forge stretches his arms as he watches the monitor. After a few minutes he observes Toad slowly get up off the floor and somewhat crawl over to the corner of the room. Forge zooms in similar to what Scott did earlier, and notes the small details he sees. Toad lives up to his name in his appearance but Forge wonders what his real name is. Maybe he'll take a look at the Cerbro back up files while he is on guard duty. He takes in the green spotted skin and the larger than normal golden eyes that right this minute seem to express loss and defeat which makes Forge's throat tighten. The dusty dreadlocks that still have a few pieces of building materials stuck in it. He notices the same bruises, scrapes and cuts that Rogue had noticed earlier.

Each observation brings up a list of questions in the engineer's mind. Was Toad born this way or did his mutation become obvious after hitting puberty? Was it physically painful or just emotionally? What was he able to experience before he was outcastes as a mutant? How did he feel when people became afraid of him? Is that why he joined the Brotherhood? Did he really believe in the whole mutant supremacy thing? Or was it because he had nothing else? Why did he never go to Genosha, the safe haven for mutants like Toad?

Then the questions touched on deeper issues as Forge's mind wandered. How is he feeling right now? Is he hoping the Brotherhood will come get him? Is he taking all the guilt onto himself for what his team set in motion? Is he trying to figure out what went wrong like everyone else here? How afraid is he right now?

Forge starts to mindlessly enter in key commands, not even realizing what he is doing. Soon there are several screens displaying information he had taken from the MRD computers. He takes a moment to feel sorry for the guy who will be in trouble come tomorrow when it's discovered that not only did he slip up and actually leave a laptop behind in the MRD van but that it was all destroyed by some unknown computer virus. It was a lucky break for them because usually those vans were left bare like some dare that turned into a tease.

Before him a hologram appears of the destroyed blocks. He examines these carefully until he is tired of looking at the damage. A beeping draws his attention to another monitor and he sighs. This one is tracking the news reports. The death toll has risen to twenty three. The missing were slowly being found. Turning away from the depressing news report, he starts to read the stolen MRD files.

He only pauses to notice Rogue entering Toad's cell with a simple sandwich and a bottle of water. She tries to hand him these things but after a few minutes she sets them down on the cot that is next to Toad. He watches her press the center of the far wall that opens back away from the monitor's view. Forge can't help but smile as Rogue pulls out a marker and makes a small x on the door. Someone really should make those bathroom doors stand out or at least easier to find. She tries to talk to him for a few minutes longer before leaving the cell. As far as he could tell, Toad didn't say a word to her. Nor did he make any effort to go towards the food. For the next few hours he busies himself with the reports and examining the hologram of the incident. He stops now and then to look at the monitor displaying Toad's cell, hoping to see that he has eaten the sandwich. But as time passes, it went ignored.

The following afternoon, Forge is sitting at a meeting with the fellow X-men. He thinks of an old phrase he had heard, there's no rest for the wary. After the latest Brotherhood incident, it seemed that phrase was becoming very accurate. There was a raising amount of violence against mutants and the ships taking mutants to Genosha were being targeted. Logan is planning to offer assistance to these groups by splitting the team up, each group doing their best to protect the fleeing groups of mutants. Everyone is going except him.

"Forge, you know why you are sitting this one out. I want you to go over the security protocols here and see if you can make any adjustments," Logan instructs him before noticing the look of concern from the other team mates. "Adjustments that won't fire at us preferably."

"That high beam laser was already malfunctioning before I started tinkering with it," Forge replies sullenly, crossing his arms.

"Uh huh, well allow me to remind you that it nearly took out the Blackbird upon re-entry. Not only would the jet have been in pieces but we could have been killed," Logan points out.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it," Forge mutters.

"Good. Now did you find anything useful from the MRD intel concerning the incident from the other night?" Logan asks.

"What Intel do we need? We already know whose responsible," Scott throws out.

"Not now Scott! Forge?"

"There is still some information I need to look into. Something doesn't seem right," Forge answers, knowing this isn't the answer they are hoping for.

"Well then, everyone knows their assignments. Head out," Logan finishes.

Usually Forge waits for the others to leave, accepting their list of various repairs to keep him busy. But today he rushes out, deciding to work on his own set of goals. Of course he will make adjustments to their security system. At least he will get a start at it before the others get back.

He goes straight to the security room but doesn't sit down. Instead he hits a few keys and watches the Blackbird take off. Nodding to himself, he reaches under the console and pulls out a cable. Taking off the the yellow uniform glove, revealing his artificial arm, he flexes the fingers for a moment before plugging the cable into the wrist area. As he waits for the data to download into his arm, he checks the monitor of Toad's cell.

Toad is still in the corner, his eyes showing the same expression as last night. The lunch that Rogue brought him sits on the floor besides him, untouched. The same as breakfast and the sandwich that was given to him last night. Rogue was getting worried. Since taking over for him in the morning, she made her concern clear. For Rogue to express concern about someone else, well, at least to him, he knew this is a serious matter. He wonders why she asked him to make an effort to speak to Toad but at the end assumes that she must be asking everyone to do the same. Except for Scott hopefully.

A beep let's him know the download is complete and he disconnects his arm. Despite his wandering thoughts, he did have a task at hand to complete. And if his hunch is correct, it might help in more ways than one. He lets out a deep breath before leaving the security room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 4
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This may be a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

Toad doesn't acknowledge Forge entering the cell. He simply closes his eyes for a moment before returning to stare at the wall.

"Uh, hey there," Forge greets him rather weakly.

Toad again blinks, thinking the voice sounded familiar but he is having trouble placing the name.

Forge takes a deep breath and moves into Toad's line of sight. He smiles at the fellow green mutant, hoping he is making a friendly impression. He extends his hand.

"My name's Forge. I'm the guy you grabbed earlier. You do remember me, don't you?" Forge asks.

Toad doesn't say anything but Forge notices the eyes widen slightly as he spoke then shift to the ground. Forge kneels down.

"Hey, it's cool. No worries really. So what's your name?" Forge asks, hoping to get some kind of verbal response. Then he could tell how bad he is doing at this.

Toad cocks his head slightly to the right, looking at Forge as if he just said the dumbest thing ever. Forge waits a few minutes before sighing and moves next to Toad sitting besides him, leaving a few inches between them. Forge tries not to think about how uncomfortable it is having the cot pressing into his left side.

"Don't keep me waiting all day. Tell me your name," Forge pushes, his goofy smile still on his lips.

"Toad," Toad replies dryly. He tries to swallow but finds it a bit hard. He knows he needs water but has kept himself from drinking more than a few sips now and then.

"Toad. Okay. Well, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the last mission you were on?" Forge asks. He mentally crosses his fingers that this doesn't make the amphibian mutant go back to being silent.

Toad watches Forge suspiciously before nodding in agreement.

"Good. Well let me show you something," Forge replies. He removes the cover on his artificial arm and presses the digital keypad that is revealed. With his mechanical fingers curled upward, the tips of his fingers light up before they project the site of the incident.

Toads eyes again widen as he shifts slightly as if to get a closer look.

"I need to know where everyone on your team was when you last saw them. I'll zoom in to where you were found," Forge says as he enters some more commands into his arm. The projection at first shrinks to a single area but then that small area expands, revealing every detail of the block where the research building stood.

"Now we know where you were," Forge states, and a small green light appears inside the hologram of the research building. "So where was um, let's say Quicksilver?"

"He was in the building before I went inside. But I don't know where he went after that," Toad answers. He picks up the bottle of water tucked between himself and the wall and takes a quick drink.

Forge nods and a silver light appears in the building.

"Alright, whose next?" Forge asks.

"Domino went down the street in this direction. I think she was headed to this billboard to use as a lookout point. She likes high places," Toad shares, pointing to the hologram spot where the billboard now was laying on the ground, broken from it's foundation. A small voice mentally calls him a a traitor but he ignores it. He knows that simply by giving his memories to Rogue, he had already willingly betrayed his team mates. He watches as a blue dot appears near the broken billboard.

"Got it," Forge states.

"Blob went down the alley, facing the express way. Avalanche stayed by the jeep, here," Toad points to a spot right in front of the research building.

Forge enters the data and looks at the position of the lights. He smiles at what he is seeing.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Toad asks, jerking Forge out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. You are sure this is where everyone was when you last saw them?" Forge asks.

Toad nods as he looks back at the hologram. When it vanishes, he sighs.

"Are you...okay?" Forge asks quietly.

Toad shakes his head before turning it away. Forge tries to think of something else to say when he hears a slight thudding noise.

"What is that?" Forge asks as he gets up and looks around. He glances down at Toad and notices the green mutant is hitting his head against the wall.

"Hey, stop that!" Forge shouts, grabbing Toad by the shoulders and trying to hold him still.

Toad misunderstands Forge's actions and he looks up at the X-man. "Go ahead."

"Uh, go ahead and what?" Forge asks, clearly confused by the two simple words.

"Hit me. I know that's what you all want. So go ahead," Toad explains, his voice rising in pitch as if on the edge of breaking down in tears.

"What? No! I'm not going to do that!" Forge cries out in surprise, letting go of Toad's shoulders.

Toad looks down for a moment before laughing. Hearing this, Forge starts to panic.

"Are you okay? Should I just...go?" Forge asks.

Toad doesn't reply but slowly stands himself up. He continues to laugh as he does so. Forge nervously backs away, looking between Toad and towards the doorway.

"I'm gonna..." Forge starts to say, deciding to go for the door. But Toad surprises him by hopping on top of him, knocking Forge on to his back. The breath is knocked from Forge's lungs when he hits the ground. Toad is on his chest, making it even harder to breath.

"There...now you can. You X-men can't attack unless you're attacked first right? Now it's okay. So go ahead," Toad tells him, looking at him sadly as he speaks before closing his eyes, waiting for the hits to come.

Forge reacts the only way could think of, using his artificial arm, he grabs Toad's dark blue hoodie near the shoulder and pulls off to the side. Since his eyes were closed, Toad didn't see the action and ends up falling to his side. Forge quickly rolls over and pins Toad to the ground.

Both struggle to catch their breath while not looking at each other. Finally, Forge looks down at Toad.

"If I let you go, will you attack me again?" Forge asks.

Toad meets Forge's gaze for a few minutes before looking away and shakes his head. Forge sighs and gets up, letting Toad go as he does so. Forge gives the green mutant space, deciding to sit down on the cot. Toad doesn't bother to move but simply curls to his side, his back facing Forge.

"Just what was that all about?" Forge asks, ignoring the voice in his head telling him to get out of the cell as fast as he could. His curiosity is once again getting the better of him.

Toad doesn't answer, he simply remains laying on the ground.

"Are you okay?" Forge asks quietly. He is starting to wonder is he somehow hurt the fellow mutant when he pulled him off.

"Would you be okay? Knowing you are at fault for the death of a little kid? Knowing that now everyone hates you? I should...I should still be trapped under that building. I should have died," Toad mutters before curling even more into a ball.

Forge hears the sobs and he feels at a lost. How do you even begin to comfort someone who feels so trapped? On his own he faces the guilt of his actions despite how little, if at all, they actually contributed to the damage he is being blamed for. And in the presence of others, he is seen as guilty and he knows they want him punished. Maybe even killed.

He scratches the back of his head. So much for his plan. Besides getting the information of the Brotherhood members location, he had planned to try to befriend the green mutant or at least get him to relax enough so he would eat. But he managed to mess that up. Forge looks at the plate of neglected food. How long can someone go without food?

Forge gets up and walks over to the curled form of Toad. He sits himself down on the ground and after a few minutes, he places a hand on Toad's shoulder.

Toad freezes at the touch. It was completely unexpected. He waits for something more to happen. The fingers to dig into his flesh, for the hand to push him back on to his back so he would be exposed to a well deserved beating. Or to quickly pull away in disgust. But it just stayed there. He could feel it squeeze him now and then but not in a painful manner. It seems to be offering comfort.

Toad slowly wills himself to look up at the unfamiliar X-man.

"Why are you doing that?" Toad asks, his voice rough from the sobbing.

"It's what I would want if I was in your position. But if you prefer, I could leave you alone," Forge replies.

"You're...weird," Toad comments but doesn't make an effort to move away from the kind gesture.

"Yeah, I know," Forge says with a smile.

The two stay where they are for several minutes before Forge remembers that he needs to at least start on the security improvements before the team comes back. He really doesn't want to leave but also doesn't want an angry Wolverine tearing into him. He starts to pull away his hand when Toad grabs his wrist. Forge doesn't even try to pull his arm away.

"I...I'm sorry. For...you know," Toad apologizes quietly.

"Hey it's fine. You've been under a lot of stress and nearly had a building collapse on top of you. I can't imagine I would be any better under those circumstances," Forge admits.

"Could...you see me again? You don't have to. Maybe you don't even want to..." Toad mutters, as if Forge already gave his answer.

"Sure. But you have to do something for me first," Forge answers, smiling as an idea comes to him.

"Eh? Um, what do I have to do?" Toad asks nervously.

"I'll come back and visit with you as long as you start eating. Wouldn't do either of us any good if you get sick,"Forge tells him.

Toad thinks this over. He releases Forge's wrist and sits himself up. After a few minutes he nods his head in agreement.

"Good. I'll see you later then. As long as you eat," Forge replies as he gestures to the plate of food on the cot. He notices Toad looks over at the plate and again nods. Forge leaves the cell and goes back into the security room.

He brings up the the security protocols but instead of looking at these, he is watching Toad's cell. Toad is still sitting where Forge left him, apparently looking at the plate of food.

"Come on, come on," Forge mutters under his breath.

Toad slowly gets up off the floor and walks over to the cot. After a few minutes, toad picks up the sandwich and takes a bite.

"Yes!" Forge shouts, raising his fist triumphantly into the air. He grins as he watches Toad take another bite. "Didn't screw that up as badly as I thought. Maybe things are looking up. Now to make something that won't blow up the team when they get back."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 5
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Remember how I said this might be a slash, well who was I kidding?
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

When the team came back after a long day, Forge not only had the upgrades in place that he was sure for the most part wouldn't attack the team, but some startling information once he had finished reading through the reports and had analyzed the data. He plans to ask Hank to double check his work but is pretty sure Hank will confirm what he learned.

But that could wait until morning. Right now he had just finished eating a quiet meal and is making a fresh plate for Toad. Rogue and Bobby enter the kitchen quietly and looking rather ragged.

"Hey Forge," Rogue greets.

"Is there something with caffeine around here?" Bobby asks.

"Uh, maybe in the fridge?" Forge suggests.

Bobby mutters something and goes to the fridge while Rogue sits next to Forge.

"For Toad?" Rogue asks.

"Yup," Forge replies as he starts cleaning up the mess he made.

"Tell me he has started to eat," Rogue says, almost pleadingly.

"Yup," Forge again replies, this time with a satisfied smile.

"Really? How did ya do it?" Rogue asks, her eyes wide.

"We...have an agreement," Forge answers, knowing he is being vague.

"Does anyone know what we're going to actually do with him?" Bobby asks after taking a long drink from a icy cold coke.

"Nothing really," Rogue answers.

"He's kinda a...captive right now?" Forge adds, trying the word captive to see if it sounded better than prisoner but frowning when he realizes it doesn't.

"I still can't believe what they did. All those people..." Bobby mutters.

"Bobby, what is your opinion concerning Toad?" Rogue asks. She has been asking this to various team mates since she first asked Forge. So far Kitty is unsure and Kurt states that Toad will have to deal with the consequences of his actions but wouldn't add to his guilt which Rogue took to be a positive thing.

"I don't really know. I don't like that he's here. But I also understand why he is instead of some prison cell," Bobby answers honestly. Rogue nods and adds his name to the possible unsure-slash-negative side of her mental list.

"He's not a bad guy. Not like Colonial Moss or Magneto," Forge points out.

"But the Brotherhood aren't the good guys either," Bobby states.

Rogue and Forge remain quiet for a few minutes, unable to argue the statement. Bobby notices the plate of food.

"If that's for him, you might want to wait a bit. Scott was heading that way to question him about something," Bobby informs them.

Both Rogue and Forge exchange looks of concern before quickly getting up and heading to the cell and security room. Rogue makes it to the cell first and reports to Forge as he passes her that it is locked. She follows him into the security room where they both notice the monitor that would display Toad's cell is blacked out.

"What is Scott thinking?" Rogue asks.

"Who knows anymore. I'm turning off the lock system on the door. Think you can get Scott out of there?" Forge asks.

"Ah'll get him out," Rogue states firmly, taking her gloves off.

Forge fingers dance quickly over the control panel at such a rate that Rogue wonders if his mind is actually keeping up with what his hands are doing.

"It's down," Forge tells her.

Rogue doesn't wait as she storms out of the security room and into the cell. When comes in, she see's Scott once again has Toad lifted off the ground, pinned against the wall. For a moment, when she saw his fist pulled back, she believed she had made it in time. But then seeing the split lip along with the pure terror in Toad's eyes, she knows differently.

"Let him go Scott," Rogue orders as she glares at her fellow team mate.

"Stay out of this Rogue!" He shouts back, turning his attention back to Toad who whimpers.

"Why the heck are you doing this? This isn't like you!" Rogue shouts, taking a few small steps forward. "You would never just go and attack someone because you felt they deserved it."

"I didn't attack him! I just came in here to ask him about where his buddies could be and he attacked me! Tell her!" Scott demands, tightening his hold on Toad's shirt, his other fist raising just a bit higher.

"Y-yes. It's true! It's true!" Toad cries out, flinching as he expects the fist to hit him.

"Let him go Scott. If what ya said is true, ah think he learned his lesson. So let him go before ah have to make you let him go," Rogue warns him, reaching her hand out as if to touch him.

Scott see's the outstretched hand and quickly steps back away from it, releasing Toad in the process.

"Toad, go out the door behind me and turn to your right and enter the door at the end," Rogue instructs the amphibian mutant without looking away from Scott.

Toad doesn't move but looks up at her from his spot on the ground.

"Toad, Go!" She yells.

This makes Toad yelp and sent him hopping out of the room. He follows Rogues instructions and enters the security room. He looks around nervously, wondering why Rogue sent him there until he see's Forge. He cautiously moves closer to the X-man, realizing he is talking to someone.

"I don't know," Forge answers some question that had been asked him.

"I will be there in a few minutes. Then after I have figured out what happened then I will decide what to do from there. For now...eh, go ahead and take him there," Wolverine's voice tells Forge. Toad notices the small image of the X-men's leader on the screen where the voice is coming from.

Forge presses a key and it vanishes, instead there is now a display of his cell where Rogue and Cyclops were still exchanging words. Forge glances over at Toad and notices the worried expression.

"Don't worry. Logan will calm things down between those two. For now, follow me," Forge tells him as he stands up.

He walks to the corner of the security room where there is a metal spiral staircase that goes downwards. Toad again does as he is told and follows the X-man down the stairs. Forge doesn't say anything as he descends the stairs. After the last few steps, Toad looks around the short hallway they were now in. There were just three metal doors, one on the right, one on the left and one at the end. Each door had a digital keypad next to it. Forge goes to the one on the right and enters the code.

Toad watches him disappear inside. Toad again looks around nervously, seeming unsure if he is suppose to wait or enter the room as well. Forge sticks his head out, looking at him.

"You coming?" Forge asks.

"Eh...am I suppose to? I mean...umm..." Toad mumbles a bit nervously.

"Come on," Forge tells him, trying his best to offer an encouraging smile.

Toad swallows and slowly walks over. He is afraid to find out what Wolverine had meant when he said to take him 'there'. Is it just another cell? Or maybe a room filled with the MRD that is waiting to take him into custody? Or even a interrogation room like the MRD had at their detainment centers, where the other X-men are waiting? He tries to tell himself that the X-men are suppose to be the good guys, saviors of mutant kind. But after what he went through with Cyclops, he starts to think anything is possible. After all, the X-men are just like anyone else. They could do things that aren't so good. And in their eyes, Toad is one of the bad guys.

So when he stepped into the room, he did a double take. It was a small simple bedroom. There were a few steps that went down, leading a direct path to a large unmade bed and another door. To the right of the bed was a small dresser and a rather dusty TV. By the door that they had come in is a computer desk and workbench that had been squeezed together. Every inch of space on these two combined surfaces were covered by various metal parts.

Forge closes the door behind them and walks down the few steps and pass the bed to the door in the back of the room. Toad looks around the room again before sitting himself on the stairs. Forge pops back out of the doorway with a cold moist washcloth in his hand. He walks over to Toad and holds it out to him.

"Here. It's for..." Forge gestures to his own lip.

Toad accepts it and tenderly applies it to his split lip, flinching from the sting when the cloth touches the wound. Forge turns and sits down on the edge on the bed. The two again sit in silence.

Forge debates on asking Toad what did happen with Scott. Scott has been clearly not happy since Toad came here. Even mentioning the Brotherhood mutant would open the floodgate to ranting and muttering. He had hoped that Scott would calm down just a little since finding Toad but that is starting to look unlikely. And judging by the scared state of the young mutant, Forge thinks that mentioning the X-man that had attacked him would be a bad idea.

"Where...um..." Toad tries asks nervously.

"Where are we you mean? My room actually," Forge reveals.

Toad's eyes widen. He shifts himself into a tighter position, his knees pressing together so hard that it hurts.

"It's okay. I don't use it often. And I only know the password so no one can come in here and bother you," Forge explains.

"Bother me?" Toad repeats.

"Um, yeah. I guess what I really mean is that no one can come in here and well, you won't get hurt again," Forge replies. He is having a hard time not referencing what just happened a few minutes ago.

"It's...it's okay. I...I don't need to be protected. You don't need to go through any trouble over me," Toad mutters. He has been grateful for Forge's kind actions but Cyclops had reminded him that he didn't deserve any kindness. The words that Cyclops had shouted at him when he stormed into the cell and grabbed him still run through his thoughts. Before Scott had hit him, he informed Toad that the mother of the little girl had committed suicide after burying the little girl. He is responsible for another death.

Forge notices the green mutant's tears. He sighs, not sure what to do or say. He decides to give him a few minutes. While he waits in silence, he thinks about what he read in the Cerebro files. Which wasn't a lot. It went into detail of Toad's mutation and his abilities. That he did have a record but for minor things like theft and being a disturbance to the peace. But any personal information was not to be found on the files. It was like he just appeared out of thin air.

Looking again at Toad, he notices the Brotherhood member is shaking with his sobs. No longer able to take it, he gets up from the bed and sits down next to Toad. Carefully, he sets his hand on Toad's shoulder.

"You...you don't have to be...nice to me,"Toad mutters between sobs. He brings his hands up to cover his face, realizing to his embarrassment that he had been crying openly.

"I know that. But I choose to do this, okay?" Forge replies.

"Why?" Toad asks. He wonders if this guy even knows who he is really sitting next to. Toad bets that if he did, he wouldn't touch him much less be near him.

"Does it matter?" Forge asks.

"Yes! It...it does matter! It matters!" Toad cries out.

He pulls away from Forge's hand, throwing himself down to the floor. He hops over towards the workbench before again sitting, this time hugging his knees.

"Whoa, calm down! It's okay! Everything will be fine!" Forge tries his best to calm the other mutant down, not liking how he is breathing or physically shaking.

"No. No it won't be fine. It'll never be fine. I...I never wanted anyone dead. But they are. They are..." Toad replies before his throat tightens, not allowing him to say anything more.

Forge watches Toad as he seems to be gasping for breath between sobs. He gets up and carefully walks over to the fellow mutant. Toad watches him through his fingers as the man kneels down next to him. In a single fluid motion, Forge wraps his arms around him. Toad tries to pull away.

"Stop...I don't...deserve...this," Toad mutters as he struggles to get out of the man's hold.

"I'll let you go if you can tell me that you don't need this," Forge whispers, lowering his head.

This makes Toad stop struggling. He opens his mouth before closing it again. He can't fight it. What the X-man is doing is exactly what he needs at this moment. His mind fails at trying to explain why Forge is doing this and he decides to simply accept it. After finding out about the death of the little girl, he felt like the ground had disappeared beneath him. He felt stable only when Forge had placed his hand on his shoulder. After the conversation with Cyclops, that same feeling of loss slowly took it's hold over him. But here again, he was brought back to solid ground by the same man.

Embarrassingly he turns into the hug, burying his face into the man's blue shirt and cries. He mutters apologies as his tears soak the X-man's shirt. He apologies for the past, for those who died and the things in life they will never experience, he apologizes for being weak and pathetic, then finally apologizing for simply existing. With each apology, Forge whispers to him small comforts. Finally, Toad stops apologizing as he grows lax in Forge's arms.

"I think you need some rest now," Forge suggests.

Toad nods his head, his throat sore to say anything further. He allows Forge to help him up and walk him over to the bed. Once he is laying down, Toad falls asleep.

Forge cover him with a few blankets then simply watches the green skinned mutant as he sleeps. He does this until there is a knock on his door. Sighing, he gets up and prepares himself for a conversation with their leader.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 6
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

Several minutes later, Forge is sitting in the war room with Logan who is pinching the bridge of his nose. Only one other X-man is in the room, Hank McCoy also known as Beast, is reading over the information Forge put together.

"This is really impressive Forge," Hank compliments the engineer as he finally looks up at the other two.

"So what's the verdict Hank?" Logan asks.

"Forge is right, for once. Based on the information here, it is impossible that Avalanche was the cause of the destruction on Water street. Here..." Hank brings up the same hologram that Forge had used earlier with Toad. "You know what we are looking at. Moving on, these small colored lights here are the Members of the Brotherhood. This read light here though is the point of origin. Notice something?"

"The point of origin is a good several blocks further. Hmm, so it seems that the Brotherhood are actually innocent," Logan mutters.

"To a point. There are signs that a tremor started to occur under the building that was targeted but it was very minor. It wouldn't have been enough to destroy the building. Maybe break a few things inside but nothing further," Hank explains.

"So what caused the quake that destroyed Water street?" Logan asks.

"I will look into that and report to you as soon as I know," Hank gets up, suddenly driven by his curiosity to solve this little mystery. "Forge would you be kind enough to forward all this to my computer in my lab?"

"Will do!" Forge replies as he starts to get up.

"Sit back down Forge. We ain't done here," Logan orders.

Forge does as he's told, trying hard not to meet the glare like gaze of their leader. Both remain quite while Hank leaves the room. Once the door closes, Logan let's out a heavy sigh.

"So when were you planning on telling me about Toad's attack on you?" Logan asks.

Forge grows still, cursing himself for not erasing the footage of that particular scene.

"Forge?"

"It was just a misunderstanding. Nothing serious," Forge replies, still not meeting Logan's gaze.

"Is that so? Seems Toad has been having a lot of misunderstandings lately. Attacking Rogue, yourself and now Scott," Logan muses over these facts.

"It wasn't an attack! Not really. Look, can't we just cut him some slack?" Forge asks, finally looking up.

"Do I need to remind you that he's the enemy?" Logan asks.

"Is he really? Because to me he looks just like a guy that the whole world hates and not only does he know that but he's being crushed by that weight! It's like we never rescued him! He's still buried alive," Forge spouts off. He knows what he said isn't making any sense. But he doesn't really care at the moment either.

"Forge, I expect this behavior from Scott. But you? What is it with you?" Logan questions.

"I could ask the same about the rest of you. Aren't we suppose to believe people could change if we give them a chance?" Forge asks.

"We've given the Brotherhood plenty of chances to change Forge. One too many if you ask me," Logan replies, once again pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I didn't realize there was a limit. If that's the case, maybe we should join Magneto," Forge states. He tries not to tremble at the death like glare he receives for his words.

"And just what do you mean by that?" Wolverine growls at the question, standing up. His claws extend, not to attack but to intimidate.

"We have given anti-mutants groups more chances than even the Brotherhood. If there's really no chance that things could be different, then why waste our time? But that's the whole point of the X-men, isn't it? To believe that things will change," Forge replies.

The two stare at each other for a few minutes before Logan sighs and sits back down, withdrawing his claws.

"Yeah, that is the point. But we still need to be careful with him. And I expect some answers. So, tell me exactly what happened when he attacked you," Logan asks.

As Forge is explaining things, Toad is tossing and turning in his sleep. In his dream he is still trapped under the building. The gap is much smaller but he could see the other Brotherhood members looking down at him, annoyed that he has mucked things up again. With another scraping of metal, he begs them to help. But they simply laugh as they walk away. He hears a voice calling from behind him and he turns around. It's the X-men and they are offering to help him. Relieved he tries to hop over to them but something wraps around his waist. He looks down slowly and see's two small bloody arms. He twists around and finds himself being held by a little girl, her hair red from the blood. He tries to scramble away but another set of arms wrap around his right leg. Afraid he looks down and see's an older woman in a nurse outfit with her long hair covering her face trying to pin his leg to the ground. He tries to push her off but when she looks up, he gasps. Her face had similar features as the little girl but on the left side of her face there is a steady stream of blood. More arms grab him and force him to lie back. He feels the ground rumble. To his horror, he watches the metal beams shift then fall downwards towards him.

Toad screams when he hits the floor. Still terrified, he rips at the blanket until he is able to finally uncover himself. Then he realizes where he is. As his heart rate slowly decreases, he looks around the simple room. He's in a bedroom. That X-man's room. Forge. Toad looks down at the blanket on the floor around him. It is the same blanket that Forge covered him in. After holding him while he broke down. Toad feels his face burn. He must have looked so pathetic, crying like a little child.

He hears a knock on the door and freezes. He remembers why he is here. Forge said that no one knew the password to get in. No one can get in, no one can get to him. There is a second knock on the door. Toad watches the door, hoping whoever is on the other side will go away. After a few minutes, there isn't another knock and Toad let's out a deep breath. But then he hears a strange sound. Bamf! A scent fills the room, like that of spoiled eggs.

"Forge?" A voice too clear to be outside of the room calls out. Toad slowly turns to the source of the voice which was behind him, next to the bed. There stood the blue demonic looking mutant, Nightcrawler. His glowing yellow eyes glance over the bed before noticing the green mutant on the floor.

"Hmm?" Nightcrawler cocks his head to the side, looking down at the Brotherhood mutant. He remembers hearing about him being brought here when the rest of the team went to investigate the damage from the Brotherhood attack. And Rogue did ask him about his feelings about the green mutant being under the same roof as him.

"Eh...hello?" Toad nearly whispers.

"Hello. I thought you were staying in a cell?" Nightcrawler questions.

With the darkness of the room, Toad couldn't make out the X-man's face. All he could see were the glowing yellow eyes watching him.

"Uh, yeah I was. Something...something happened," Toad mutters, tensing as Nightcrawler sits down.

"Why are you in Forge's room?" Nightcrawler continues to ask. He doesn't like how Toad seems to be holding things back. But he remembers his conversation with Rogue and his promise that he wouldn't cause Toad any harm.

"Uh, he...he brought me here. You can ask him. I...I think he's...well...I don't really know where he is," Toad admits, looking away from the creepy glowing eyes.

"I believe you," Nightcrawler replies. He knows Toad isn't lying to him for it was basic knowledge that only Forge and Logan know the password to enter Forge's room.

"Really?" Toad asks, his eyes widening and his mouth hanging open just slightly. No one has ever trusted him off the bat. He always had to try to earn it. And sometimes he never seemed to make it to that point.

"Ja. Yes," Nightcrawler replies, translating the small German word he had used automatically. He doubted this particular young man knew any foreign language.

"Oh, um, thanks," Toad mumbles.

"When I had teleported into the hallway, I thought I heard a scream. Was that you?" Nightcrawler questions, his voice calm.

"Eh, you heard that?" Toad mutters, his face again growing warm. He braces himself for the heckling. The very few times he cried out in his sleep he always heard about it the next morning.

"I did. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," Toad mumbles, hugging his knees again.

"It's nothing to be embarrassed about. I have them too," Nightcrawler reveals.

"You? But you...um, well..." Toad tries to think of what he had wanted to say but the words having slipped him.

"Being an X-man doesn't mean nothing affects us. Does being a member of the Brotherhood mean you don't care if people get hurt?" The blue mutant asks.

"No. No it doesn't," Toad answers, thinking again about the conversation Cyclops had with him.

"Do you mind if I ask you something a bit more personal?"

"Go ahead. I might not answer though," Toad warns despite knowing that he will indeed answer any question they ask of him now.

"Why have you not gone to Genosha?" Nightcrawler asks.

"Genosha...because I owed Pi...Quicksilver. He got me out of a situation. Maybe if I knew about it before I may have gone there. No, I would have gone. But now I'm not allowed to," Toad answers honestly.

"Even if you left the Brotherhood?"

"I...I couldn't leave them. Like I said, I owed him. But I guess I couldn't go even if I am not a part of the group anymore," Toad replies sadly.

"You think you are no longer part of the group?"

"They never came back to look for me. What does that tell you?" Toad asks bitterly. He has been pushing these thoughts away but now he finds it to hard to stop. He asked Cyclops if any of his team mates were found just before Rogue came in. Cyclops told him that they must have ran the minutes things went wrong. There was only one reason they wouldn't have came back and looked for him. They simply didn't care enough to bother.

Toad looks down to his feet. He tells himself it doesn't matter even if they did care. He touched Rogue willingly, letting her absorb his thoughts and memories. He has answered every question they asked without coming up with a single lie. No, he told them everything since they rescued him. He may miss certain facts but not this one. He has repeatedly betrayed the Brotherhood. Even if they somehow didn't know, he knows. And he was always lousy at keeping a secrete. He would slip up and then get punished before being tossed out. If he is lucky, Dominic would be allowed to beat him. Unlucky and their leader would handle the situation personally. Dominic's would be physically painful but Pietro's would be so much worse. Silently he hopes they believe he did die.

"I'm sorry I asked. I didn't mean to upset you," Nightcrawler apologizes.

"It's nothing. Why aren't you at Genosha? Too good for it?" Toad asks, not at all expecting an answer.

"I was there. It turned out not to be what I had expected," Nightcrawler answers, surprising Toad.

"You were at Genosha? Even though you had a home here?" Toad asks, not thinking to stop himself.

"It took me a while to realize this is my home. What about you? Where is your home?" Nightcrawler asks.

"Eh...I...I guess I don't have one," Toad answers quietly.

He squeezes his knees painfully, trying to keep himself from crying again. He doesn't notice Nightcrawler standing up and places a three fingered hand on his shoulder, similar to what Forge had done before. But there was a difference. Both gestures were kind but only Forge's felt like it had something a bit more behind the gesture. Toad couldn't say for sure what that was exactly but he knows it all the same.

"I know you are not exactly here willingly but maybe you could think of this as your home while you are here?" Nightcrawler suggests.

"I don't think the others would like that. They are probably waiting for the MRD to stop by and pick me up, I would," Toad replies.

"Don't worry so much about other people. I have to go and find Forge now. It was nice talking to you," Nightcrawler tells him as he withdraws his hand.

"Thanks...umm..." Toad tries to remember the X-man's code name. Something involving night he thinks.

"My name is Kurt Wagner. You can just call me Kurt," Nightcrawler reveals his real name to the Brotherhood mutant. He hopes that by extending his trust that the fellow mutant will do the same.

"Kurt. Oh...hey, do you want to know my name?" Toad asks.

"If you are okay with that. You don't have to tell me," Kurt replies, smiling even though Toad is still unable to see it.

"It's Mortimer...Mortimer Toynbee," Toad reveals.

"Then good day Mortimer," Kurt wishes before vanishing in a puff of dark purple smoke.

Toad smiles at hearing his real name used not in anger or with a tone of disgust. He always hated hearing his real name being used. But just then when Kurt used it, he didn't mind it at all. He decides to tell Forge his name as well. He wonders if it will sound differently coming from him than it did from Kurt. He carefully gets up from the floor, picking up the blanket with him and sits back down on the bed. Still too afraid to really explore the room, he waits quietly for Forge to return.

Back in the war room, Forge is watching Logan pace the floor in thought. He had gone over every detail of his first meeting with the Brotherhood captive, some more than once.

"So let me get this straight," Logan mutters with a sigh as he stops his pacing, "he didn't attack you to try to escape. He did it so you would retaliate?"

"Yes. I know it sounds really strange. I know it is! But that's what he said. We won't attack someone unless they attack us first. His words. Then he kept telling me it was okay. He was trying to encourage me to hit him," Forge repeats, hoping that the Canadian leader is believing him.

"Hmm...Rogue said something similar about his attack on her. Alright, for the time being I will allow him to remain where he is. But he's not allowed to leave that room under any circumstance unless I say otherwise. And you are to report to me if he does attack you again. I don't care about the reason behind it, you better be on your way to see me right after it happens. Am I clear?" Logan asks, glaring at the fellow X-man.

"Ah, yes sir," Forge replies, looking away from Logan's glare but he can not help himself as he smiles.

"Since you didn't report it to me in the first place, I expect you to be on call for any little repair or project any one comes up with for the rest of the week. And to finish those repairs on the Blackbird by tonight," Logan instructs him.

Forge nods in agreement.

"Alright, get to it. Check on our little guest then get to work," Logan mutters as he opens the door.

Forge quickly gets up and leaves the room. Once outside and he sure he has put some distance between him and Logan, he stops to let his mind catch up with just what happened. He really thought he was going to get ripped to shreds over that comment about joining Magneto. It certainly didn't earn him any brownie points. But at least he was able to explain things so Logan wouldn't tear into the green mutant instead.

Still, something was bothering him. It was about Toad attacking Scott. Logan didn't give him any details concerning it. All he gathered was that Scott claimed that Toad attacked him and he fought back. But he couldn't understand why. He didn't really attack Rogue. He simply surprised her and made contact with her skin so she would know he was telling the truth. He made a really bad attempt at attacking Forge himself only because he believed that is what Forge secretly wanted to do. Could he have tried the same thing with Scott? Or did he even attack Scott? Normally he wouldn't question his team mates' story. But Scott hasn't been attacking like himself lately. And he turned off the security camera and locked the cell door. What possible reason could he have had to all that?

Forge finds himself sighing as he thinks of how much things have changed. Before Jean's Phoenix powers emerged, sending the Professor into a coma, Forge was barely ever even contacted by the X-men. But after the mansion was rebuilt, they had needed him to not only work on the long list of repairs and to make various machines including the Blackbird, but as a team member. Even if he is rarely ever on the field. He doesn't mind the constant need for his mutant ability. It is actually nice being useful for a change. Sometimes he got down about not being part of various missions or not being able to fight along side his team mates. But at the end of the day, he knew he had a place with them.

But as much as things had changed for the better for him, he knew that for some of the others, it had changed for the worse. Just looking at Scott made that point painfully clear. He knows that Kurt had gone to Genosha to get away from those who judged him by his appearance. Kitty was on her way there so her parents wouldn't have to suffer from others judging them for raising a mutant daughter. Everyone's life was affected after that incident. Some were able to bounce back, some took longer to do so. But Scott concerned him.

He shakes his head and continues towards his room. He notices Scott lingering in the hall when he turns the corner but pretends not to see him. When he walks pass, he hears Scott mutter a single word before turning and walking in the opposite direction.

"Traitor."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 7
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

In a few minutes, Forge enters his bedroom. Noticing how quiet it is, he believes Toad must still be asleep until he see's the fellow mutant watching him from the corner of the bed.

"Feeling better?" Forge asks.

Toad nods, giving a small smile.

"That's good. Well, I only have a few minutes before I have to go and do some repairs. Going to be doing a lot of that over the next few days," Forge tells him before sitting down on the bed.

"Oh," Toad replies, looking away.

"Are you going to be okay?" Forge asks.

"Yeah, sure," Toad mutters. For a moment he forgot his current situation. He isn't a welcomed guest. He wasn't even welcomed.

"I'm sorry. I kinda got in trouble and have to have those repairs done by tonight," Forge explains.

"It...it wasn't because of me, was it?" Toad asks, glancing over at the X-men.

"No. No it didn't. I messed something up is all," Forge lies, not wanting to add to Toad's guilt. He considers telling Toad about what he had just reported concerning the Water street incident but decides to wait until Hank discovers the source. Then Toad wouldn't be able to dismiss the fact that they were actually not at fault. Which leaves Forge to move on to the next subject. "Hey, umm, could you tell me what happened between you and Cyclops earlier?"

Toad feels his heart skip a beat. He doesn't know how he was suppose to answer that. He couldn't tell the truth. That would result in only making things worse. Specially if Cyclops finds out. He didn't want to make that particular X-man any more madder than he already is.

"Not much to tell. He came in. I...I attacked him. He hit me. Had me pinned to the wall when Rogue came in. That's it," Toad mutters as he struggles to keep his voice from raising in pitch like it does when he's nervous. His voice always gave him away.

Forge notices the sad look in Toad's eyes and he knows the fellow mutant is lying. But for now he decides to play along. He can't expect to have gained the Brotherhood mutant's trust after just a few conversations.

"I see. Well I'd suggest that you shouldn't attack anyone else but that seems unlikely since no one can get in here besides Logan and myself," Forge comments.

"Uh, someone else was here," Toad shares, remembering that Kurt is looking for Forge.

"What? Who?" Forge questions. Did he give the password to someone else and forgot about it? Worse yet, what happened when they found Toad in here?

"Uh, yeah, his name was...Kurt. He was looking for you," Toad tells him.

"Kurt? Nightcrawler! He told you his real name?" Forge asks in disbelief. Sure Kurt was a generally an easy going guy but that's after he warms up to you. Something that took a few weeks for Forge.

"Umm, yes?" Toad answers, feeling a bit of panic rising in him. By talking to the other X-man, did he somehow break some rule? After all, he doesn't even know Forge's real name or the others for that manner.

"Huh. Did...anything happen?"

"What do you...oh. Um, no, nothing happened. We talked but only for a few minutes," Toad replies quietly after realizing what Forge was asking him about. He shouldn't have been surprised. He did attack Forge and just claimed to attack Cyclops.

"I see. Well, I guess since nothing happened, there's nothing to worry about. I better go," Forge says with a heavy sigh. He is looking at a long night with all the repairs he has to do.

"What is your name?" Toad asks suddenly.

Forge looks over to Toad, seeing him twisting his fingers nervously.

"You mean my real name?" Forge asks.

Toad starts to nod his head but stops.

"Never mind. Forget it," Toad mumbles. As much as he really did want to know, he again reminds himself of his current situation. Kurt was generous when he gave his real name but he shouldn't expect anyone else should. He is the enemy after all. An enemy with blood on his hands.

"It's Jon," Forge offers with a smile. "But around here people just call me Forge."

"Oh!" Toad replies, his eyes widen.

"Can I ask you for yours? Unless it really is just Toad?" Forge asks, his face looking a bit troubled at the thought that someone might actually have named their own child Toad.

"Mortimer," Toad answers.

"Mortimer. I like it," Forge says, receiving an ear to ear grin from Toad. "Well, I'm off. I know there isn't much here but you can use anything. Pretty sure the TV and DVD player works. DVD's are under the bed in a box. Don't be afraid to watch them. You might be a...you might not be allowed much right now but I can't see why you can't enjoy a few luxuries why you are here. Okay?"

Mortimer nods, the smile still on his face. Forge takes it as a good sign and leaves his room. He nearly walks into Rogue who is holding the plate of food he had set up earlier and was just about to knock.

"Rogue! Sorry!" Forge cries out.

"Hurrying off somewhere?" Rogue asks.

"Yeah, got to work on the Blackbird. That for Mort...Toad?" He asks, barely catching himself using Toad's real name. He wonders if Rogue already knows it, since she was a member of the Brotherhood for a bit.

"Mort? He told you his real name huh? Must be getting close," Rogue comments with a sly smile. Her intuition appears to be right, they are getting along.

"Close? Well, it's better than him and Scott's relationship. But...he doesn't quite trust me yet," Forge reveals with a sad look.

Rogue's eyes widen just a touch at this. Something more than just friendship is taking place here. But what?

"Don't sell yourself short. Ah believe only Pietro and myself knew his real name," Rogue replies, laying a comforting gloved hand on his shoulder.

"Thanks Rogue. I better get going. Go ahead and go in. Oh, um so you don't get locked in the password is..." Forge whispers the password to her so she wouldn't be trapped in his room. He knows Rogue won't harm Mortimer, after all, she is the one who approached him about being friendly with the green mutant.

Rogue smiles and nods, stepping aside to let Forge walk past and enter the door at the end of the hall where the loading bay for the Blackbird is. She enters the room and notices Toad is pulling a box of Dvd's out from under the bed.

"Does Forge own anything good?" Rogue asks as she brings the plate of food to the bed.

Surprised to hear her voice, Toad nearly drops the box but manages to catch it. When he looks up, he appears to resemble a child clinging to their secrete treasure. Rogue has to admit, at times specially with those large golden eyes, Toad could look down right adorable in a childish way.

"Eh! He...he said I...I could...um...watch these if I wanted. I'm not stealing them!" Toad cries out, afraid that Rogue may be thinking he was up to his old ways already.

"Easy Toad. Ah believe you. So does he have anything good?" Rogue asks again, setting the plate of food down next to him. She peers into the box with Toad.

"Hee, hee, he has the whole series of MacGyver! And the A-team! I have always wanted to see these!" Toad announces happily, almost bouncing on the bed.

Rogue fights hard not to laugh. What did she expect to find in Forge's DVD collection? At least Toad seems to share a similar taste in old tv series.

"Well, let me see if Forge has everything hooked up...and nothing else hooked up at the same time," Rogue offers as she turns to the Tv and DVD player. She makes it through the first episode before excusing herself.

Meanwhile, at the next town over, the Brotherhood members are inside a vacation home, listening to the latest news on a left behind radio. Domino is standing in the kitchen doorway, watching the other three as they listen. She stirs her tea, ignoring the fact it is actually ice cold by now. She feels a slight breeze to her left.

"It's not your fault you know," Domino offers to their leader.

"I should of listen to you guys. He should have been with you or Fred," Pietro replies.

"If you do that, then we will be here for another week. We all have regrets. We may not have liked him. Heck, we even wanted him off the team. But we didn't want this to happen. Not to him," Domino states, bringing a voice to their shared thoughts.

"Still, it was my responsibility to keep him safe. To keep all of us safe. And I failed," Quicksilver mutters.

"Hey now, you found out he isn't dead. That he is with the X-men. I hate to say this but right now, there isn't a safer place for him than with them. We may not like it, but that is just the way things are," Domino points out, trying to reassure their leader.

They already discussed all this in a meeting earlier. After they narrowly managed to escape after their mission, Quicksilver had returned to the site more than once to search for the amphibian member. It was on such a search that he observed the X-men getting on their jet. He had remained far enough not to be seen but close enough that he could hear them. Though he did suspect Wolverine knew he was there, by the way the X-men leader kept stopping and glaring as he looked around. That's when he heard that they were the ones that found him. Alive. At the meeting he revealed all this to the rest of them and gave them the vote on whether they should try to take on the X-men and rescue their comrade or trust that he is in better hands for the moment. They had decided unanimously to leave him with the X-men.

"Do you think they will treat him okay?" Pietro asks quietly, surprising Domino by actually asking for her opinion.

"Those goodie two shoes? Of course they will. He's probably all nice and cozy in a warm bed right now. I actually envy the little slime ball," Domino replies as she turns to walk back in the kitchen.

She dumps the cold tea and starts a fresh pot, all the while keeping an eye on their leader who seems deep in thought. Finally he nods to himself and she see's the familiar self confidence glow return to his eyes.

"Alright guys. Turn that off and get some sleep. We leave here in the morning!"

Back at the Xavier Institute, Toad is trying to sleep. He glances at the alarm clock the he found tucked under the bed. It's brightly red numbers told him it is now one am. He sighs and sits up. It wasn't the warm bed or the new surroundings that were making it hard to sleep. It wasn't even the nightmare he had earlier though he is afraid to have that particular dream repeat itself. No, he is worried about the X-man who actually lives in this room.

If he is honest with himself, he is afraid that Forge, that Jon was forced to sleep somewhere else because Toad was there. He kicks himself for not thinking about this sooner. He doesn't want to make things uncomfortable for Jon. Toad smiles as he thinks of the X-man's real name. Then he sighs. He has spent the last few hours after getting to disc two of season one's MacGyver, agonizing where he should sleep. The logical place was on the floor. But there wasn't much space. The last thing he wanted to happen was for Jon to come in and trip over him. And he didn't know where to get another blanket or pillow. He could do without a pillow, he usually did when he was with the Brotherhood but he always got cold at night, no matter how warm it was.

So he decided to try to sleep for a little bit, sure that he would wake as soon as Jon came into the room. Then he could ask him for a spare blanket and maybe squeeze himself under the workbench or something. Thinking of this, he gets up and walks over to the workbench. Crouching down, he see's a box of parts and the loose pieces on the floor. Carefully he pulls the box out, ripping it only a little bit in the corner and sets this carefully on the workbench, pushing the clutter back carefully to make room for it. Then he went to work picking up the bolts, washers, and bits of wire off the floor. The dust clouds up in Toad's face as he works and he ends up in a sneezing fit which covers the sound of the door opening.

Forge muffles a yawn as he comes in. He let's the door close by itself before suddenly stopping. He hears a strange sound coming from his neglected workbench. Did one of his little projects some how turn on? He walks closer to the area before noticing the green mutant on all fours underneath the workbench. He hears the noise again and realizes Mortimer is sneezing.

"What are you doing?" Jon asks.

"Huh?" Mortimer replies before turning around and spots Jon looking at him with a confused expression on his features. Carefully he backs out, and sits on the floor. "Oh, um, I was trying to pick...pick up the floor under your workbench."

"Okay. But why?" Jon questions as he scratches the back of his head.

"Uh, well, I figured I...I could squeeze under there and...um...sleep," Mortimer answers. He sneezes again and rubs his itchy eyes.

"Wait, you were planning to sleep under my workbench? Is there something wrong with the bed?" Jon asks as he walks over to the bed, looking it over to see if there was something obviously wrong with it.

"N-no. The bed is okay. But it's yours. You shouldn't have to...have to go without it because of me," Mortimer mutters.

Jon looks back over at Mortimer for a few minutes. Then he smiles and shakes his head.

"Come out of there. You don't have to sleep under my workbench," Jon replies.

Mortimer doesn't move though, he only lowers his head in guilt. He thinks again that Jon is almost too good of a person. Who else would treat a murderous criminal so kindly?

"Mortimer, it's really okay. You can use the bed. I don't mind. It's really big to be honest. Could fit a few people on it comfortably. So I can't see why we can't share it," Jon points out.

"Share it?" Mortimer repeats, his face suddenly growing warm. He had never shared a bed with another living person before. No one ever wanted to.

"Yeah. All we are doing is sleeping so it's not a big deal. Haven't you ever shared a bed when you were a kid?" Jon asks as he begins to strip out of his uniform.

Mortimer shakes his head and glances up at Jon. Once he he see's Jon stripping, he quickly turns away. He swears his cheeks are on fire. And this puzzles him. He has seen guys strip before. Heck, Dominic didn't care where he was when he changed his clothes. Sure Mortimer always felt uncomfortable when it was done in front of him, but this was different. He wasn't irritated or uncomfortable. In fact, he realizes that he very much wants to turn right back around and continue watching. What is wrong with him?

When he feels cold metal touch his green skin, he nearly jumped to the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Jon asks, looking at Mortimer with concern.

Mortimer nods, trying hard not to look at Jon.

"Well how about we get some sleep? It's pretty late," Jon replies as he walks back over to the bed, stretching his arms before yawning again.

For reasons Mortimer couldn't fathom at that moment, he got up and followed Jon to the bed. There is plenty of space between their two bodies but Mortimer keeps himself on the edge of the bed, his back to Jon.

"Night...Mortimer," Jon says sleepily and in a few brief minutes, Mortimer hears the man' slight snores.

"Night...Jon," Mortimer whispers. He listen's to Jon's snores, mentally comparing them to Blob's or Avalanche's. He decides there really is no comparison. Both Blob's and Avalanche's snores could start earthquakes but Jon's snores sounded more...well he didn't know how to describe them. But in a strange way they were comforting, like the ticking of a grandfather clock that was in one of their old hideouts. And like the grandfather clock, it lured him to sleep.

Sadly, his dreams were turning out not to be much better than the one before. Again he finds himself trapped under the building. This time he wasn't alone. The little girl was there, sitting in the corner having a tea party. Toad approaches her carefully.

"Uh, he-hey there. Are you okay?" He asks the little girl.

"I'm good. Just having a special tea party. Want some tea?" The girl asks, not looking up at him.

"Umm, no, that's okay. Aren't you scared?" Toad questions, crouching down. He looks up at the familiar steel beams holding up the remains of the building.

"What is there to be afraid of? We're already dead," the girl replies, looking up at him.

Toad screams at the sight of the little girl's face which is nothing but a bleeding skull. Then the beams shift and debris starts to fall. He watches in horror as the little girl is buried by the falling debris. He looks up and see's one of the beams start to fall, directly at him. But suddenly a pair of arms wrap around him and pull him back, preventing him from being crushed. He's afraid to look at the arms or turn around to see who they belong to. He was sure it was the mother again so instead he closes his eyes tightly, tears spilling.

"It's okay Mort. You're safe," a familiar voice whispers into his ear.

"Wha...how did you get trapped under here?" Toad asks, confused.

"I'm not trapped. Neither are you," Jon whispers in response.

"Yes we are. Look around. The beams are going to fall any moment now and crush us. You have to get out before it's too late," Toad tells Jon.

"Can you trust me?" Jon asks.

"Trust? Don't you understand? You're going to die too if you don't get out now!" Toad cries out, struggling to get out of the hold of the arms wrapped around him. But instead they tighten around him.

"I'm not going to die. Just like you're not going to die. Please, won't you trust me just a little bit?" Jon asks.

Toad stops struggling. Slowly he allows himself to lean back against the body he feels behind him. He prays that this dream doesn't get any worse.

"Oh...okay," Toad replies.

"Open your eyes. I promise that you will see that you're not trapped under the building anymore," Jon tells him.

Toad takes a few deep breathes then he opens his eyes. At first he panics, seeing nothing but darkness. But then his eyes adjust and he finds himself in Forge's room.

"See?" Jon whispers from behind Mortimer.

Toad realizes that he still feels like he is being held and looks down. He see's Jon's arms, both flesh and metal, are wrapped around his body. He turns his head slowly and meets Jon's sleepy gaze.

"You okay now?" Jon asks.

Mortimer isn't able to speak so he simply nods.

"Good. We have a few more hours before dawn so let's try to get a bit more sleep," Jon replies as he yawns.

Mortimer thought the X-man would let him go and return to his side of the bed. But instead, Jon nuzzles his face against the back of Mortimer's neck, his face covered in Mortimer's dreadlocks. Once again, Mortimer could hear the man's snoring after a few minutes. This time he could also feel the man's breath against his sensitive skin.

Mortimer keeps himself still, trying to understand what he is experiencing right now. Jon is asleep but still holding him firmly in his arms. Mortimer feels the other man's body heat being absorbed through his own skin, removing the slight chill he has always known despite being covered in a blanket. This was a form of physical contact that he was not at all familiar with. He didn't know if he is suppose to do something or not. He didn't even know what the physical contact means. But he does know that he likes it despite how afraid he is. After a few minutes, Mortimer closes his eyes and falls back asleep. This time, there were no little dead girls in his dreams nor collapsed buildings. Just an open blue sky and the sense of someone being near.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 8
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> Note: this is the chapter where I make the back story make some sense. I hope anyway.  
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

The next few days went by without any incident for Toad. He was still kept in Forge's room which he was rather happy with. Only thing he didn't like was that someone had to bring him meals instead of him getting it himself. He hated the idea that he was a burden, even in a small way. But he didn't dare ask if he could leave the room. He wouldn't allow himself to forget what he was nor what he done, no matter how much he enjoyed being there.

Still, at times he did forget. Or he choose to. Like when Jon came in with something he was suppose to repair. Jon always invited him to sit close by and talk with him as he worked. Even though Mortimer rarely talked unless prompted by the X-man, he enjoyed watching the man work. Things that more people would give up and discard, once Jon laid his hands on it, it would gain a new life and be a useful item once again. Whether it was for it's previous use like a toaster functioning once again as a toaster or as something new, like the compartments of a TV becoming part of a new laser for the Danger room. It simply fascinated Mortimer what Jon could create.

When Jon wasn't there, he tried to keep himself busy by any means. He restricted himself to watching only a disc a day. He was on the first disc of season two of MacGyver. He loved the show. MacGyver was a genius, creating bombs from tin foil and bubble gum or a laser with a coke bottle. He would share with Jon about what he enjoyed from the episodes and the neat gimmicks the tv man would create. Jon told him that most of those items did work but something was always left out, to keep kids from blowing things up. Then to Mortimer's amazement, Jon would tell him what was missing!

Besides that, he would start cleaning the room, creating little chores to do. Like sweep the floors, organize the bolts and washers found, wipe away the cob webs. Little things that he would stretch to be a nearly all day task. It wasn't easy but he did it. Jon would notice the difference and compliment Mortimer. That always made the itchy skin and eyes feel worth it.

He really liked Jon's company. He still feels bad though that the X-man was stuck with the Toad. He learned from Rogue that Cyclops has been giving Forge a hard time. Deliberately damaging things in the Danger room to the point that it would take Forge most of the day to repair it all. Or he would have lists of repairs from anything to a mysteriously malfunctioning console to a damage tv in their REC room. It was like Cyclops was trying to find ways to keep him from spending too much time with e green mutant. Yet no one dared to accuse Cyclops of this. There just wasn't any proof. But knowing this, it still gnawed at Mortimer's guilt. He tried to share his concerns to Jon but Jon would dismiss them with a smile.

A smile that always charmed Mortimer. Another problem that scared the heck out of him. He realizes he feels something for the X-man. Something more than the usual buddy feeling he has experience with. It was something very alien to him. So different that he didn't know what it was. He knows that due to his past, he would become clingy to who ever showed him a bit of kindness. He would make it his goal to please that person by any means. Like he did with Pietro. He knew there was no way he could actually live up to those expectations but he would gladly die trying to make Pietro think positively of him, even if it was just that he didn't mess up for once. But with Jon, things were clearly different. Jon was always ready with his smile and compliments or kind comments. Mortimer didn't have to do anything to earn them. He never once put the green mutant down. Nor made fun of his downfalls.

After the first night they had shared the bed, he expected Jon to make fun of him for needing to be comforted like a little kid. Or hear complaining about not getting much sleep due to Mortimer's nightmares. He is still afraid that Jon will complain any day. He still has the nightmares. Then again, even before the Water street situation, he had nightmares. He had loss count how many mornings he got chewed out for keeping a Brotherhood member up half the night with his cries and screams. But so far, Jon never said a word. In fact, it became somewhat of a routine where Jon would lure him out of a nightmare and then Mortimer would fall back asleep wrapped in the X-man's arms. It was very strange at first, but not so much that he would refuse it. To his embarrassment, he actually looked forward to the feeling of security and comfort that only Jon has ever given him.

He smiles as he thinks about those warm and firm arms around him as he wiggles further under the bed. Today's task to keep from going crazy is cleaning under the bed. A chore he really didn't need to stretch out to last all day. He carefully pulls out a pod like metal contraption and sets it in a pile of other metal like objects on the floor. Mortimer takes a moment to look at this little pile and wonder what each item could possible be before diving himself back under. He is picking up some loose screws when a female head actually comes through the bed.

"There you are," Shadowcat states.

Toad jumps, banging his head hard on the frame of the bed. He quickly scurries out from the bed and does his best to press himself flat against the wall.

"Hey! Sorry I scared you but I knocked like a hundred times and no one answered. I'm suppose to take you to the war room. Wolverine wants to talk to you," Shadowcat informs him.

Toad gulps at this bit of news and tries his best not to start shaking. So much for his stay here. He knew this would end at some point but he had allowed himself hope that he would be forgotten and thus could stay here longer. Stupid Toad, he berates himself.

"Are you going to get up? Or do I have to drag you?" Shadowcat asks in irritation.

Toad shakes his head and gets up, wiping the dust off his knees. Shadowcat holds her hand out and Toad just looks at it with uncertainty.

"I don't know the password so I have to phase us both out," Shadowcat explains.

Understanding, Toad reaches his hand out and places it in hers. He notices the expression of disgust on the young woman's face when they touch, so he simply lowers his head and allows her to lead him.

Within a few minutes, Shadowcat phases him into the war room. She doesn't linger though. Once he is in the room, she let's go and phases back through the wall. Toad heard her muttering about having to take a shower. Toad lifts his head and looks around. He finds that he is in the presence of Wolverine, Beast, Storm, and his least favorite X-man, Cyclops, all sitting at the conference table.

"Take a seat," Wolverine orders and Toad quickly does so, giving up on the idea of being able to keep himself from shaking. There's no way you could stop shaking when you are in front of the most powerful mutants of the X-men. Instead, he he does his best to keep his focus on the floor.

"We had you brought here to share with you what we found concerning the investigation on Water Street," Logan tells him.

Toad's shoulder's slump even more at hearing the site of the wreckage he and the Brotherhood were being held responsible for.

"Hank, go ahead and give us your report. But try to keep it in simple English this time," Logan tells Hank.

"I'll try my best. After going over the information Forge provided..." Hank begins.

"Figures," Cyclops mutters.

"I was able to confirm that it is impossible that the Brotherhood were the ones responsible for the event on Water Street," Hank continues.

This catches Toad's attention and he suddenly looks up. He notices another hologram image of the street is being displayed.

"Here are the points of origin of the destructive quake. Notice there are two of them, one here and one here," Hank points to the red dots.

They weren't quite at either end of the street, but a few blocks in. Seeing the colored lights that represented the Brotherhood, it was clear that they were in the very center of the damage. Toad starts to wonder how they could have made it out.

"This doesn't prove they didn't do it. How do we know that those were the positions of the Brotherhood? If I'm not mistaken, that particular bit of information came from him," Cyclops interrupts as he stands up and points an accusing finger at Toad, who flinches back. "None of them are known for being honest! He could have lied about their positions!"

"Wh-why would I-I do that?" Toad asks, surprised to hear his own voice.

"Why else? To protect your fellow team mates. Prove your loyalty. Or do you not even know what that means?" Cyclops asks, looking directly at Toad.

Toad doesn't respond, instead he just lowers his head.

"Cyclops, either sit down or take a walk. I'll let you pick," Wolverine addresses the visor wearing mutant.

Cyclops turns and glares at their leader for a few seconds before finally sitting back down.

"Moving on, I have been able to determine the source of these points. And this is the truly amazing part. Watch these lines here," Hank instructs.

Toad cautiously looks up, making sure not to make eye contact with Cyclops. He see's the two red dots and two lines of red coming from them. As Hank zooms out, Toad is able to watch these lines continue to beam downwards until they finally stop. One red beam connects to a small floating metal object in space.

"A satellite?" Storm asks.

"Yes," Hank replies.

"Wait a second, only one of the points match up," Cyclops points out.

"Continue watching Scott. In a matter of three minutes..." Hank continues, as he presses a button. The satellite slowly moves and lines up with the second beam.

"And there we have it ladies and gentlemen," Hank finishes the display.

Everyone is silent for the next few minutes. Toad keeps looking at the satellite. This metal contraption was the cause of the quake? Not Avalanche?

"What do you know about the satellite Hank?" Wolverine finally asks.

"It's suppose to be a prototype. What concerns me is who is responsible for it. The MRD are the main shareholders," Hank informs them..

"The MRD? What could they possibly gain from this?" Cyclops asks.

"Remember the military action they have been trying to get to target the Brotherhood?" Wolverine points out.

Toad looks over at Wolverine in surprise. Pietro never mentioned anything about the MRD trying to get the military after them.

"That's right Toad. We have been hearing reports that the MRD are fed up with the Brotherhood's interference and was trying to gain military support to once and for all stop them. Apparently Water Street....was a set up," Wolverine reveals to him.

Toad isn't able to respond. The MRD set up the Brotherhood? Is allowing them to take the blame for all of this? For the deaths? For the little girl? All so they could get the military to take them down for good? And the Brotherhood are suppose to be the bad guys. But for once they were innocent. He wonders if the other Brotherhood members know all this? Are they even safe? Or have they already been taken down? Toad frowns as a headache starts to develop. All the nightmares, all the guilt was for nothing.

"Toad?" Wolverine calls out to him, pulling Toad out of his thoughts. "In light of this, there's some things that need to be sorted out. Concerning you."

"What is there to sort out? You just told him that he and the rest of them are innocent. So we take him into the center of town and let him loose. Get him out of here," Cyclops mutters loudly.

Hearing this again makes Toad look up. Is that what is about to happen? They are going to let him go? But what about Jon? Will they allow him to say goodbye to him?

"We know the Brotherhood is innocent but the world out there still wants them to pay. That is part of the MRD's plan. To turn the public against them. If Toad here is seen on the streets, people will react. And not positively," Wolverine points out.

"Ar-are the others safe?" Toad asks, his voice quivering.

"There have been no reports of them since the Water street incident. It seems they are keeping themselves hidden. As long as they do that, I'm sure they will be fine," Hank offers.

Toad nods. They will be alright he tells himself. In fact, without him there to mess things up, their chances are very good. For once, he doesn't mind that they didn't come back for him.

"So that leaves us with this. Toad, you know it's not safe for you to be out there on the streets. But you are no longer a prisoner. So the choice is yours. Do you want to try you luck out there or remain here?" Wolverine asks.

Toad swallows nervously. He didn't expect to be given any choice. He really believed they would toss him out onto the streets, no longer their problem. So to be given the choice surprises him. He thinks about possible returning out there, maybe finding the Brotherhood again. But he knows there is no way he could find them. Not unless they were looking for him which by now he can no longer fool himself about. He was nothing more than a thing of the past.

So what does that leave him? When he asks himself that question, he starts to think of Jon. Why he doesn't understand. He knows that the X-man is just being nice to him. If he finds out that he isn't a prisoner anymore, will he still treat Mortimer the same way? Or will he push him away? How long will it be until Jon see's him as a nuisance like Pietro? To regret being nice to him? These questions scare Mortimer but he decides he could try to at least find the answer to them, and enjoy the moments before he does. Then, when it's painfully clear that Jon no longer wants to be around him, he will leave.

"I-I'd like to stay...stay here sir?" Toad manages to answer, though his voice could barely be heard.

"Alright then. I'll see about finding you a room of your own or something. You won't be locked down anymore but I prefer that you don't venture around the institute on your own just yet. If you can manage to stay out of trouble, that will change. But for now you are on probation. And I expect there will not be any trouble from you. Specially reports of you attacking the others living here. Am I clear?" Wolverine asks.

"Ye-yes sir," Toad replies.

"Name's Logan kid. Not sir," Wolverine corrects.

Toad only nods, not wanting to see if this was some sort of test where he calls the leader of the X-men by his real name and gets dissected in front of the others.

"Alright, I'll take you back to Forge's room for now," Logan states as he gets up.

Toad also gets up and slowly follows Logan out of the War room. He is aware of the others watching him as he leaves. Neither talk as they walk down to Forge's room. But before Logan enters the code, he faces Toad.

"Listen kid, I meant everything I said earlier. I don't want to receive a single report about you causing trouble. As long as that doesn't happen, you can stay. But let me give you some advice. Stay away from Scott as much as you can. He doesn't like you nor the fact I'm letting you stay here," Logan tells him

"I-I'm sorry. I don't mean to be any trouble," Toad mutters.

"No need for apologies. Just keep yourself out of trouble," Logan replies. "But there is something I'd like to ask you. Do you have any idea where Pietro gets his information from concerning these missions?"

Toad simply shakes his head. He wasn't trusted with that kind of information and he never really cared. Logan nods as he accepts this before turning and entering the password for Forge's room. Toad steps forward to go in but stops in the doorway.

"Umm, th-thanks. For letting me stay," Toad tells Logan.

Logan doesn't say anything, just makes a grunt sound and walks away.

Mortimer goes into the room and sits down on the steps. He can't wait for Jon to return so he could tell him about all of this. After a few minutes he decides to allow himself to watch one more disc of MacGyver as he waits.

Meanwhile, Forge is walking into the kitchen where Kitty and Rogue are talking.

"So he's..." Kitty started to say when she notices Forge is in the room.

He notices how both girls have gotten quiet and looks at them dumbfoundedly.

"Did I walk into a private conversation? Cause if I did, I could go away for a bit," Forge offers.

"Actually we were talking about your room mate," Rogue states.

"Oh?" Forge asks, hoping something didn't happen.

"You have heard by now, right? About him and the rest of the Brotherhood had nothing to do with the whole Water street incident and that it was an MRD setup and Toad will be staying..." Kitty lists off.

"Really? The MRD?" Forge replies, smiling happily as he sits down.

"Yeah, that surprised me too," Kitty states.

"You are happy about Toad staying here, aren't you?" Rogue asks with a faint smile.

"Huh? Yeah, I am actually," Forge admits.

"So what do you think of him now, since you two have been sharing a room for a few days now?" Rogue continues to ask. Kitty gives her a strange look in which she simply winks to her fellow X-man.

"He's really not you would expect. He is a fun loving guy, a bit shy but as long as you make an effort to talk to him, he will share almost anything with you. And he catches on to things. Like when I was explaining the mechanisms of the laser bugs for the Danger room, he understood what I was actually talking about! And..." Forge shares, grinning happily.

"Uh, huh. Sounds like you have really fallen for him," Rogue comments.

Kitty is drinking some juice when Rogue says this and she chokes on it. Forge's face goes blank at this statement.

"Fallen...for who?" Forge asks.

"For Toad. Who else could ah be talking about?" Rogue answers as she rolls her eyes. Their brilliant engineer could really be dense at times.

"Fallen?" Forge repeats again.

"Meaning you're in love. Do ah need to spell it out?" Rogue teases.

Forge's face suddenly starts turning red. Kitty recovers and looks closer at Forge.

"No way! You really? For him?" Kitty rattles her questions off.

Forge doesn't answer any of them, he remains almost frozen, his face a deep red color.

"So have you done anything with him yet?" Rogue asks.

"Done? I'm usually busy. We talk. We sleep," Forge replies, struggling to get each word out.

"When I was in there, I noticed there was only one bed. Do you two share the bed?" Rogue continues her questioning, enjoying Forge's sheepish expressions.

"Yes."

"Is that all you do when you sleep?"

"Umm...well, he has nightmares," Forge mumbles.

"Uh-huh. And what do you do when he has these nightmares?" Rogue asks. She frowns for just a moment. She remembers hearing the green mutant's cries and whimpers at night. She had hoped he had gotten over them as time went by.

"Umm...well...I...well...kinda hold him?" Forge replies in such a low voice that both girls had to strain to hear him.

"You hold him?" Kitty asks in disbelief.

"Yes," Forge answers as he let's himself fall forward, banging his head on the table surface.

"Like, wow...I don't know what to say," Kitty replies.

"Like ah said, it sounds like you have fallen in love with him. Am ah wrong?" Rogue asks. She exchange glances with Kitty who is smiling like a Cheshire Cat.

Forge doesn't reply with words but with an odd groan.

"Can we buy a vowel?" Kitty teases.

Forge moans another reply, folding his arms underneath his head, hiding his face.

"It's okay Forge," Rogue replies.

"Yeah. I mean, I don't see the appeal. Personally he isn't my taste but it's what works for you. Actually, now that I think of it, the two of you make a cute couple," Kitty comments.

"Ah know, right?" Rogue shares, smiling at Kitty.

Forge glances up at the two female team mates.

"Eh, so what now?" he asks.

"You find out if he feels the same way," Rogue replies.

"How?" Forge asks. His experience with these kinds of situations...well he simply didn't have any.

"You ask!" Both girls tell him at the same time.

"Are you two actually helping me or setting me up?" Forge mumbles.

"Is there a difference?" Kitty teases.

"But before you you find out his, you first have to admit your feelings," Rogue comments, "Out loud."

Forge groans and hides his face again. Both girls move a bit closer to him. Finally, Forge lifts his head up. He doesn't look at either of his team mates but they can see the deep red color still on his cheeks.

"I..." Forge starts to say, his metal finger tapping the table's surface.

"Go on," Rogue encourages.

"I love him," Forge gets out quickly before covering his face with both hands.

"Good job Forge!" Kitty tells him as she reaches over and pats him on the back.

"Yes, ah almost didn't think you were gonna do it," Rogue shares.

"Huh? But you both said I needed to..." Forge starts to say but is interrupted by both girls breaking into giggling fits. "Both of you are really mean." Forge pouts and this makes the girls laugh even harder.

After a few minutes, everyone calms down. Rogue and Kitty are still grinning at him and Forge is still avoiding their gaze.

"Ah think things will work out fine Forge. Take your time and relax. You don't want to come out too strong," Rogue advises.

"And you have to tell us everything!" Kitty tells him, she's nearly bouncing with excitement.

Forge sighs and turns away from the girls. Feeling ridiculously warm, he decides to get up and go take a walk outside. The girls watch him as he walks out of the room. They turn to each other and begin giggling all over again. Things just got very interesting at the institute.


	9. Chapter 9

After his rather long walk around the grounds, he manages to go back to his room. He stands outside the door, looking at the keypad for several minutes. Thanks to Rogue and Kitty, things just got a lot stranger for him. He admitted, out loud, that he loves Toad. Or at least thinks he does. He again curses his lack of experience. He feels his cheeks growing warm again. With a sigh, he enters the code and goes into his room.

He finds Toad sitting on the steps, turning to look at him with those large eyes. He is happy to see the green mutant smiling at him.

"Hey!" Jon greets.

"Hi!" Mortimer returns the greeting, smiling even wider.

"I have some rumors going around. You were in a meeting?" Jon asks as he sits down next to Mortimer. He hopes he isn't still blushing.

"Yeah! Earlier today. It was about Water street," Mortimer replies, his smile faltering at the mention of the site. "They found out that it wasn't the Brotherhood's fault. It...wasn't...my fault."

"I heard. How did you feel about that?" Jon asks.

"It's...it's good. But...but it doesn't seem to change things. It was a set up by the MRD so they can go after the Brotherhood," Mortimer tells him, losing his smile. Jon could see how this information is troubling him.

"But I heard you are being allowed to stay here. You do know you will be safe here, right?" Jon asks, watching Mortimer closely.

Mortimer doesn't reply. Instead he looks down at his hands for a few minutes, thinking about his former team mates. He pictures each one in his mind and again assures himself that they will be fine.

"I know. And so will they. After all, I'm not there to mess things up for them," Mortimer finally whispers. Despite his efforts, he starts to cry.

Jon gets up and steps behind Mortimer, sitting down and pulling the green mutant back against him. Mortimer twists and buries his face into the crook of Jon's neck. Jon gently strokes Mortimer's dreadlocks as the former Brotherhood mutant sobs. When he seems to calm down just a little, he starts to talk but keeps his face hidden against the skin of Jon's neck.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't be doing this. I must look so pitiful to you. The sorry wretched Toad. Dominic would call me that when I used to beg them to forgive me. You know, after I screwed up. I always screwed up so I heard it a lot. Just like now," Mortimer says quietly. I'm sorry if I disgust you right now."

"There's nothing you need to be sorry for. You don't disgust me," Jon tells Mortimer.

"You don't have to lie. I know what I look like when I cry. Weak. Miserable. Pathetic. Disgusting. I've heard it all. So I try not to. But I can't help it. Even if my team mates aren't responsible for that disaster, we are still getting blamed for it. Even if I'm no longer part of the team, I will be seen as one of them by everyone. Out there and in here. And for that, I'll be hated. I...I don't know how to deal with that. I...I'm afraid. I know admitting that makes me sound even worse but it's true," Mortimer finishes.

Jon holds him tighter as Mortimer begins to tremble with his tears.

"Mortimer, you need to believe me. I don't find you disgusting. Not in the slightest. And you certainly not weak. A weak person can not ever admit that they are afraid. But you just did. And a weak person would hide from the world. You're not," Jon whispers encouragingly.

"Yeah I am. I'm staying here because I can't make it out there," Mortimer argues.

"That's not what I mean. What I mean is that you know how the world is seeing things right now. You could choose to go out there and do some serious damage, hurt a lot of people. Be the very person they think you are. And blame them for your actions. Hiding who you really are while being what they hate and fear. That's not what you are doing," Jon replies, hoping the point he is trying to make is coming across. "What I'm trying to say is a weak person would change who they are in order to fit into the image the world has for them. You are not the bad guy everyone thinks you are."

"You're not making a lot of sense. But...thanks," Mortimer tells him. Though he didn't understand what Jon was trying to tell him, he was touched that someone cared enough to try to comfort him in this moment. He mentally kicks himself for breaking down in front of Jon. This was not how he planned this conversation to go. He had thought they would talk happily like any other time. There were a few scenarios he is afraid of. Swallowing, he decides to see what the next part will bring.

"When I was told I could stay, Wolverine said he would find a room for me," Mortimer tells him.

"Emm," Jon groans. He wasn't prepared for this bit of news. Jon had just assumed that Mortimer would share his room while he stayed here.

"Ummm," Mortimer starts to speak, catching Jon's attention, as he pulls away slightly, "I...I was wondering...not to cause any trouble...umm...could I just...well..."

"I hate to interrupt but I am starting to lose you," Jon tells him.

"Sorry. Could I...stay here? The room I mean. With...you?" Mortimer finally gets out. His body grows tense and he starts to wring his fingers nervously.

Jon smiles and leans forward, wrapping his arms around Mortimer once again.

"Of course. I...like having a room mate," Jon tells him.

"You don't have to...I could just...," Mortimer replies, his nerves growing rather than fading.

"I just said I like having a room mate and that I am okay with it. So accept it," Jon replies with a laugh.

"Are you really okay with it?" Mortimer asks, looking up at Jon.

"You're not use to people granting you things, are you?" Jon asks.

"Not without a price, no," Mortimer admits. "Often it's some sort of catch. Sure Toad, you can sleep on the bed or have the last cookie but you have to clean the whole house or wash the car. You can walk pass us to get home when you give us your money. You can eat if you steal this."

Jon sighs as he holds Mortimer. A secrete learned. He knew that Mortimer most likely didn't have a good life. But he had been hoping he was wrong.

"Well, there isn't a price with anything I give you," Jon states firmly. He notices that his arms are still wrapped around Mortimer's body. Feeling a bit awkward, he starts to unwrap his arms and sit back.

But Mortimer grabs the wrist of his metal arm. He lowers his head, not able to meet Jon's gaze for what he is about to ask.

"Man...umm...I know this is going to sound really weird...if not creepy...but umm...could you...could we...stay like this for a few more minutes?" Mortimer asks. He quickly releases Jon's wrist and covers his face with his hands, to hide his embarrassment for making such a request and just in case Jon decides to smack some sense into him. He didn't think Jon would do that but he always preferred to be safe rather than sorry. Then he realizes that in the past, it never mattered. He always ended up feeling sorry. So he sat there, nervously waiting for Jon's response.

He doesn't have to wait long. Jon wraps his arms back around him, pulling Mortimer back against his chest. Mortimer doesn't lower his hands but Jon could see between his webbed fingers that he was smiling. Jon remains quiet for a few minutes, enjoying this as much as he hopes Mortimer is. His thoughts go back to what Kitty and Rogue had talked to him about.

"Mortimer...can I ask you something?" Jon asks, hoping his voice isn't ever walking him being so nervous.

"Sure!" Mortimer replies, finally lowering his hands so he could look up to meet Jon's gaze.

Jon swallows as he looks into Mortimer's large owlish eyes. He could feel his face turning red again.

"Okay. So I was wondering...how do you feel..." Jon starts to ask his question when someone knocks on their door.

Both turn to look at the door. The person on the other side knocks again.

"Better see who it is," Jon mutters.

He unwraps his arms from around Mortimer and gets up as there is a third knock. He opens the door to see Logan starting to walk away.

"Logan?" Forge calls out, getting his team leader's attention.

"Forge. Did I interrupt something?" Logan asks, wondering mildly what crazy project Forge could be working on in his spare time.

"Ahh, no. No," Forge lies. "Is there something you need?"

"Huh, actually I'm looking for Toad," Logan replies.

Upon hearing his name, Toad carefully peeks his head out. Forge couldn't help but notice the deer in the headlights expression his room mate has as he looks at Logan.

"Hey kid," Logan greets Toad.

"Si-sir?" Toad replies.

Logan's eyes narrow at hearing himself still being called sir but decides to leave it be. He reminds himself that he needs to handle the Toad like mutant carefully unless he wants to scare him.

"About the rooming situation. I was wondering if you have any preferences if you had to share a room with someone," Logan asks. He wanted to get the kid settled in before moving on to the next mission.

"Well..sir...I...," Toad shifts his gaze away, trying to get the words out before his throat closes in his panic.

"We'd like to continue sharing my room," Forge fills in.

"And you're alright with that?" Logan asks Forge, looking at the X-men mechanic suspiciously.

"Yes," Forge replies.

"Alright then. Has he told you that he is no longer on lock down?" Logan continues.

"Umm, I hadn't gotten to that part yet," Toad mutters, looking down to the floor.

"Well, as I told him, he's free to wander the institute but not alone. As long as he stays out of trouble, there shouldn't be a problem," Logan informs Forge.

"Probation?" Forge asks, making sure he understands.

"Yes." Logan confirms. "Since it seems you two have already settled things, I'm going to go. Oh, you both might want to avoid Summers for awhile. I don't think I need to explain why."

"No, you don't," Forge agrees.

Toad looks up at Forge, and upon seeing the strange dark expression on his face, he gulps.  
Logan nods and climbs up the spiral stairs. Both Jon and Mortimer go back inside their room. Jon walks towards the bed then paces the floor. Mortimer, frightened by Jon's strange behavior, sits on the steps.

"Jon? Umm, is something wrong?" Mortimer asks.

"Hmm?" Jon stops his pacing and looks over to Mortimer. Seeing the look of concern, he realizes he must have been lost in his thoughts for a few minutes. He smiles. "Oh, no. Nothing is wrong."

"So umm, what were you going to ask me earlier?" Mortimer asks, the look of concern not fading.

"Oh...that? I forgot," Jon lies. Since the interruption, he managed to lose his nerve. He sighs. Well there is always later. "So he says you can venture the institute. Want to tag a long while I do some maintenance work?"

"Yes!" Mortimer replies, literally jumping up.

Jon chuckles at the excited gesture and walks pass Mortimer. He opens the door and walks out but after a few steps he stops and looks back. He finds Mortimer scanning the hallway nervously.

"Something wrong?" Jon asks, wondering where the excitement he just saw in Mortimer's eyes just a moment ago had gone to.

"Huh? Oh, umm, I just remembered...what about Cyclops?" Mortimer asks.

"Him? Don't worry about him. As long as you stay with me, you'll be fine. If he says anything, ignore him," Jon replies. He doesn't like the fear and uncertainty in Mortimer's eyes. He also doesn't like the fact that one of his own team mates is the source. "It really will be alright, you know."

Mortimer meets Jon's gaze for a moment. Slowly he straightens up and follows Jon, letting the bedroom door close behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 10
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

Jon really enjoyed watching Mortimer as he went about his work. The excitement had returned. Instead of walking, Mortimer has been hopping about, looking at everything at every possible angle. He asked dozens of questions about each location and Jon didn't mind answering them. The best part for Jon was the ear to ear grin on Mortimer's face. The only time Mortimer stopped smiling was when he would hear someone approaching them. When this happened, Mortimer quickly went to Jon's side and looked to the ground. He wouldn't say a word and stayed very still as if trying to imitate a statue. When the person walked past and was out of sight, then Mortimer would relax. Jon hopes that this is only a temporary issue and that as time goes by, Mortimer will grow in confidence.

Things went smoothly until dinner time. Jon, with Mortimer's assistance, had just finished installing the last of the security upgrades and scanner systems. Kitty pokes her head through the wall of the room they were working in.

"You guys going to take a break yet? It's dinner time already!" Kitty tells them, smiling slyly at the pair.

"Break sounds good. Ready Mortimer?" Jon asks.

Mortimer just nods as he hops over to the doorway to join Jon's side. They follow Kitty to the dinning hall. Just outside the room, standing next to the doorway is Cyclops. When he spots them, he looks away. Forge enters the dinning room but before Toad is able to, Cyclops steps in his way.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Cyclops asks Toad, glaring down at the green mutant.

"Uh...I...I was going to..." Toad stammers, taking a step back.

"No you're not. We eat together as a team. You're not part of the team now are you?" Cyclops asks.

Toad shakes his head slowly before lowering it.

"So go get lost already! No one wants to be in the same room as you anyway," Scott tells Toad, his anger raising the volume of his voice.

"Leave him alone Scott!" Forge shouts as he walks back over to the doorway. He hadn't noticed that Mortimer wasn't behind him until he turned to ask where he wanted to sit. That's when he noticed Scott standing in the doorway.

Just before Forge could walk pass him, Cyclops extends his arm across the doorway, blocking Forge.

"Stay out of this Forge!" Scott yells at the young engineer.

The shout catches Forge off guard and he freezes for a moment.

"As for you, you can go find yourself some filthy hole to crawl into. You may be allowed out of a cell but that doesn't mean you are one of..." Scott tells Toad until he feels something grab his arm and pulls.

Off balance, Cyclops starts to fall into the dinning room. He barely see's Forge's nonmetal fist as it connects to the side of his jaw.

Forge watches him fall to the ground. He hisses in pain as he flexes the fingers that had just connected with Scott's jaw.

"I told you to leave him alone," Forge mutters.

"You...you shouldn't be here either, traitor," Scott mutters as he starts to get up.

Forge ignores him and steps into the hall. He looks over to Mortimer who is starring wide eyed at the doorway. Forge takes a step forward, noticing that this makes Mortimer step back.

"Forge! Scott! Kitchen now!" Logan calls.

Forge looks back, seeing Rogue walking over to him as she passes Scott. He again turns to Mortimer but see's him hopping around the corner.

"Mortimer!" Jon calls out.

"Ah'll get him. Go get your lecture from Logan before he really gets upset," Rogue tells him before hurrying in the direction that Mortimer went.

Forge doesn't move for a minute as he watches her turn the corner.

"Forge, get in here!" Logan hollers.

Sighing then hissing in pain again, Forge turns and goes to face the wraith of their leader.

Meanwhile, Rogue follows Toad out the front doors. She is surprised that he headed outside. She was sure he would hop all the way back to Forge's room. The fact that he didn't, worries her as she burst through the door and looks for a sign of him. She catches a glimpse of his shadow as he hops around the corner of the institute. At least he isn't going for the front gate, she thinks as she continues following him. When she gets to the back area of the property, she has to search for him.

It takes her a few minutes but she finally finds him behind the garage space used for repairs. As she approaches him, he shifts, keeping his back to her. She knows he is trying to hide the fact that he is crying.

"Hey Toad. Are you okay?" Rogue asks, taking a seat on the ground with a little space between them.

Toad doesn't answer.

"It's going to be okay Toad," she whispers, trying to reassure him.

"No. No it's not," Toad mutters. Rogue doesn't miss the strain in his voice.

"Ah know how hard it is to adjust to things around here. It isn't easy earning the others trust. But give em time. They will come around," Rogue tells him.

"I'm not worried...about that. I'm...used to it," Toad replies, taking in a shaky breath between words.

"Is it Scott? And what he said?" Rogue asks.

Toad shakes his head.

"Are you worried about Forge?"

"He was better off before I came here," Toad quietly replies.

"Toad..."

"I messed things up for him. He went out of his way to be kind to me and now he's in trouble. I should have stayed buried," Toad says with a heavy sigh.

"Toad, ah've never heard you talk like this before," Rogue replies.

"Talk like what?"

"Like you actually care for someone," Rogue answers. She wonders if Forge ever managed to ask about Toad's feelings or at least share his.

"I cared about the Brotherhood," Toad mutters.

"Did you?"

"Yes! I always cared! I had to! If I didn't care, I wouldn't have tried so hard not to... Not to disappoint them so much! Not that it did any good," Toad says bitterly.

"Okay, ah'll give you that. But why did what they think matter so much to you?" Rogue replies, watching Toad's back.

"Why? Because they gave me...gave me...a place. Not a physical place but like...a..." Toad tries to explain.

"A place where you could fit in?" Rogue fills in for him.

"Yeah. That's it. I...didn't feel as much as a....well...as much as a freak with them," Toad shares.

"Ah can understand that. But did you really feel like you weren't being...judged by them?" Rogue asks as she thinks back to her short time with them. It's true Toad was given a place with them but they still treated him pretty poorly.

"No. I know I was... not on the same level as the others. Not even close. If Pietro didn't feel bad for me, I would never have been with them in the first place. That doesn't really matter though. We both know they were pretty sick of me," Toad answers, finally turning so his back was against the wall. But he keeps his face turned away from her.

"Yeah," Rogue agrees, unable to even think of a way to deny it. "But that is still different from how things are here, isn't it? Like with Forge?"

"Not too different. I'm here for the same reasons. At least your fellow X-men make it clear that I won't ever be viewed as one of them," Toad mutters.

"But what about Forge? Do you feel that way around him?" Rogue pushes gently.

"No. He...he treats me like no one ever has. Like I've always wanted to be treated," Toad shares, thinking of when Jon would hold him in his arms. Never with hesitation or disgust. He could almost feel Jon's arms around him now.

"Do you care for him like you did with the Brotherhood?"

Toad simply shakes his head but can't bring himself to say how he actually feels. He's not sure of the words for it. He only knows it's different.

"Ah see. Well, you know, ah don't think he would agree with what you said earlier. About him being better off? You've made a difference to him, same as he seems to be doing for you," Rogue shares.

For the first time since sitting behind the garage, Toad looks at her. Rogue see's the disbelief in his eyes as they narrow to see if she is pulling his leg. In response, she simply smiles.

"Ah mean it," she states firmly.

"The only difference I've made is getting him in trouble. And maybe costing him his place with the rest of your team," Toad replies before looking away.

"What do you mean?" Rogue asks. She finds it strange how Toad is talking to her. She knows he's on the younger side but right now he sound almost as old as Hank or Scott.

"I heard what Cyclops called him. It's because he is being nice to me that he's being viewed like that. That's why I said he was better off without knowing me. All I seem to do is cause trouble. Maybe I should..." Toad starts to say.

"Don't," a voice to their left interrupts.

Both Rogue and Toad look and see Forge standing in the shadows, looking at them. Rogue nods to Forge and gets up. She leaves them alone, knowing they need this. She glances back only once, sending her hopes in their direction before returning to the institute.

Mortimer and Jon eyes meet for a few minutes, as if their thoughts could be reached by the other as long as their gaze is met. Mortimer, being overwhelmed with guilt, breaks the eye contact by pulling up his knees. Jon takes in a deep breath and walks over to sit down next to Mortimer.

"Mort?" Jon whispers, hoping Mortimer doesn't mind the short nickname.

"I'm okay. Don't need to worry about me," Mortimer replies, refusing to meet Jon's gaze though he sorely wants to.

"If you don't want me to worry then maybe you shouldn't run away," Jon replies with annoyance.

"Uh...sorry about that," Mortimer mutters.

"I heard some of what you said to Rogue," Jon reveals. "Do you really think I'm better off not knowing you?"

"It's just...what Cyclops said..." Mortimer tries to explain, finding his throat tightening and tears again forming in his eyes. He angrily digs his claws into the skin of his legs. Again he's being weak, he thinks.

"Forget about Scott. He has some serious issues going on. He's just taking them out on you," Jon replies.

"And you? Is it really just him that thinks that you're a traitor because of me? Or do the others think that too?" Mortimer asks, shivering at the possible answer.

"It doesn't matter what they think," Jon answers.

"Yes it does! They're your team mates! This is your home! Don't tell me it doesn't matter," Mortimer replies angrily, closing his eyes in a last ditch effort to keep from crying.

"And I said it doesn't. Listen to me, Mortimer, I'll be honest, before you came here I would have cared. I'm...not really secure about my place here as I look. God forbid that they no longer need me to upgrade something or invent something or do repairs. Reason why I'm grateful for Logan at times. He keeps going berserk which results in me being needed. But I'm getting off topic there. What I'm trying to say is that here, all I am is a glorified repairman. They rarely take me on missions. I can count how many missions I've been on on one hand. So yes, before you came here, I would care what they thought," Jon shares.

"So what changed?" Mortimer asks, wondering what could of happened.

"Becoming friends with you," Jon answers honestly.

There is a moment of silence that settles around them. Mortimer thinks about what Jon just said. Then he presses his face against his knees, no longer able to prevent the tears.

"I'm sorry," Mortimer moans.

"Mort, it's not something to be upset over. It's a good thing. A really, really good thing," Jon tells him, scooting closer to Mortimer and places an arm around Mortimer's shoulder.

"How could that be a good thing? You should care about losing everything," Mortimer asks. He thinks about what he told Rogue just moments before about him and the Brotherhood. It would have been disastrous if he had stopped caring about what they thought.

"Because there's one person who doesn't need me around just to make something or repair something. I can just be me. Not an easy thing around here. Usually if I try to actually start a conversation with someone, it usually ends pretty quickly with 'that's nice Forge. Hey could you fix my computer?' You're the first person who doesn't politely tell me to shut up," Jon explains.

"Really?" Mortimer asks, peeking over at Jon from behind his knees.

"Come on, have you seen me being sociable with the others today?" Jon asks.

Mortimer thinks about what he did see today as he followed Jon around. It was true, no one really stopped to talk to Jon much. Now and then someone would ask him how he was doing but then like Jon said, they would ask him to do some kind of task then go about doing whatever they do. Realizing this, Mortimer couldn't help but feel sorry for Jon.

"No, not really," Mortimer replies.

"See? That's why I was okay with you being room mates with me. I don't...feel as lonely. Either when I'm with them doing some mission or when they are all just here, I always felt..." Jon pauses as he tries to think of the right words.

"Like you're not really a part of the team?" Mortimer offers.

"Yeah. It sounds crazy or maybe I'm not making any sense again but..." Jon agrees, rubbing the back of his neck as he smiles his goofy smile.

"No, you are making sense. I know what you are talking about. I felt the same thing with the Brotherhood," Mortimer tells Jon. "I was more...of a joke than a team mate. At least you are useful."

"You're not a joke," Jon replies.

"Whatever. Anyway, I'm sorry for any trouble I got you into," Mortimer apologizes, changing the subject.

"It's nothing. Scott actually got more of a lashing than I did. So it's nothing to worry about," Jon tells the fellow mutant.

"Uh huh," Mortimer mutters, knowing that he can't help but do the opposite.

"That was believable," Jon comments.

"I just don't like that you are getting hassled because of me, alright? You're...too good for that," Mortimer replies.

"Noted. Look, leave the worrying about the others to me. You should try to talk with the others now and then. It might help. Not everyone is like Scott," Jon suggests though he doesn't mind if this suggestion gets ignored. He knows Mortimer should try to be friendly with the others but he kinda likes having Mortimer to himself. Realizing what he just thought, Jon begins to blush.

"Are you okay? You're face is turning red," Mortimer observes, looking at Jon.

"Yeah..yeah I'm good. I might die of embarrassment but I'm good," Jon mutters as he covers his face with his hand.

"Are you sure?" Mortimer asks, shifting to look closer at Jon's face.

Feeling Mort move closer starts to make Jon's heart race. He could hear his heart beat ring in his ears. He swallows nervously as Mortimer pulls his hand away from his face. Why was he reacting this way, he wonders. He gets a mental image of Mortimer kissing him and Jon cries out, scooting back from Mortimer.

"Jon?" Mortimer says the X-man's name with concern. Jon is suddenly acting really strange. Did Mortimer say something wrong?

"Uh, sorry. We...we better go inside. Logan said that we should just go to our room and someone will bring us some dinner. We might just start waiting until after everyone else eats so we don't, you know," Jon fumbles over the words. The mental image of Mortimer kissing him comes back and Jon has to look away.

"Oh...right. Okay," Mortimer agrees, feeling guilty again. Now Jon can't even share meals with his team mates.

The pair get up and walk back into the institute in silence. Neither are aware that Kitty, Rogue and also Kurt are standing by the main stairway, watching them.

"They don't look too happy," Kurt comments.

"Think they had a fight?" Kitty asks.

"Ah hope not," Rogue replies.

"I wonder if Forge ever got around to telling him or not," Kitty adds.

"Telling him what?" Kurt asks.

"Kitty!" Rogue cries out.

"Oops," Kitty mutters.

"Hmm?" Kurt looks between them, sensing something is up.

"Ugh, elf, how good are you at keeping secretes?" Rogue asks.

"As long as they won't cause any harm, I keep my lips sealed. Why you ask?" Kurt questions, wondering what he is about to get pulled into.

"Maybe you could teach Kitty a few things," Rogue grumbles.

"I'm sorry! But it's been driving me crazy! You said it yourself, they would make a good couple..." Kitty spouts off.

"Couple? Who?" Kurt asks, ignoring the warning signs going off in his head.

"Forge and Toad!" Both girls cry out, making Kurt take a step back.

"What? Wait, you mean a couple as in friends or..." Kurt tries to grasp what these two girls are telling him. They can't mean the word in a romantic sense.

"Like Scott and Jean, Elf. Catching on yet?" Rogue asks.

Kurt doesn't say anything, he simply swallows and nods his head.

"What do you think Kurt?" Kitty asks.

"What do I think? Does it matter?" Kurt asks back, feeling like he's been put on the spot.

"Ah think what Kitty means is that if they do become a couple, will you be okay with it?" Rogue explains.

"Oh. I...I guess I don't really care if that's what they want," Kurt replies honestly. He has some other friends who he knows has that sort of life style and it doesn't at all bother him. He feels that what one does behind closes doors should be no one else's business. But he didn't think Forge of all people would be of that sexuality. He didn't think the fellow X-man even know what that word meant.

"I think he can be trusted," Kitty comments, nodding her head approvingly.

"Yeah, more than Ah can say for you. Ah'm surprised the whole institute doesn't already know by now," Rogue says as she shakes her head.

"I won't say anything but do you two really mean they are together?" Kurt asks.

"No, they are not together. Not yet," Rogue answers.

"Then why are you even thinking this?" Kurt asks.

"We talked to Forge earlier. He admits that he loves Toad," Kitty fills in.

"Oh," Kurt replies.

"We told our little mechanic genius to ask Toad what his feelings were and to confess. So far as we could tell, he hasn't done either," Rogue adds.

"I see. That would explain why Forge punched Scott earlier then," Kurt comments.

"Yeah, that surprised me too. But I think Scott had that coming!" Kitty replies. "I mean, he's been complaining about Toad from the moment we found him and now he's been making those comments about Forge's loyalty. I've been tempted to phase him into the freezer."

Both Kurt and Rogue snicker at this comment.

"If I'm not mistaken though, you weren't too fond of Toad either," Kurt points out.

"Well, I'm still not. He was a total creep when he was with the Brotherhood. But I don't agree with putting him out there to defend for himself. He wouldn't make it a day out there. I don't think I could make it a day with how the MRD is making the Brotherhood look like murderers," Kitty replies.

"Okay but if you are not fond of him, then why are you supporting him getting together with Forge? Are you mad at Forge or something?" Kurt questions.

"No! I might not like him but seeing Forge like he was earlier, how could I not approve?" Kitty says with a smile.

"Hey Kurt, have you spoken to Toad yourself at all?" Rogue asks.

"Ja, a little bit," Kurt answers.

"So what do you think of him?" Kitty asks before Rogue could say anything.

"Hmm...he seemed very nervous at first. Didn't want to share too much information with me at first. But that is to be expected. We are...were on opposite sides after all," Kurt shares after a moment of thought.

"Were? You mean he's not with the Brotherhood anymore?" Rogue asks.

"He believes he's not," Kurt reveals, "He said that they never searched for him after the incident so that means he's no longer part of their team."

"Great, now I feel bad for him," Kitty replies.

"Ah wonder if that means his stay with us will be on the long term side of things," Rogue ponders aloud.

"Most likely. And if that's the case, we should just accept it now and start trying to be friendly to him rather than treat him like the enemy," Kurt reasons, mentally planning to try to start another conversation with their newest house mate.

"Yeah, you're right. I could cut him a little slack. For Forge sake too," Kitty agrees.

"I still find the idea of those two becoming a couple a bit odd," Kurt admits as he follows the other two up the stairs.

"Maybe, but everyone deserves a bit of happiness," Kitty comments with a giggle.

Kurt simply shakes his head at the corniest comment he has ever heard and looks forward to crawling into his bed. And possibly forget the strange conversation he just had with Rogue and Kitty.

Kitty and Rogue watch him go into his room and close the door.

"So at least one more person is willing to give Toad a chance. What about Bobby?" Rogue asks.

"You know Bobby, he's taking the middle ground. Won't argue about the fact he's here but isn't sure about him being here. I can't really blame him," Kitty replies.

"No, can't blame him. Hank seems wary as well. Of course he will be friendly but until Toad proves he can be...well un-toad like..." Rogue shares.

"Rogue, why are you trying so hard for him to be accepted?" Kitty asks.

"Ah guess it's because Ah feel guilty," Rogue answers.

"About what?"

"Because while ah was with them, ah didn't treat him much better. Remember Nitro?" Rogue asks.

"Yeah, the guy who would explode. I remember Toad being there, sorta," Kitty thinks back to that particular incident.

"He's the reason we even had Nitro. He found him at an MRD detainment camp," Rogue shares.

"Okay. But what does Nitro have to do with you feeling guilty?" Kitty asks.

"Toad was at the detainment camp. And we were going to leave him there. Pietro even went there to take a picture as he told him that he was out of the Brotherhood," Rogue reveals, looking down at the ground.

"Oh wow. That...that is just wrong," Kitty replies.

"Yeah, it was. And ah was going along with it. Things like that...he was never treated...well. Anyway, Ah want to make it up to him. For what ah was a part of. Ah believe that if he was treated decent for once while he was here, it would even things out," Rogue explains.

"So that's why. Well I think it was a success. Or will be once Forge steps up to the plate," Kitty replies. "

"And who knows when that will be," Rogue replies with a smile even as she rolls her eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 11
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

Later that night, Jon is sitting at his work bench and tinkering with the computer interface in his arm. He hears the sound of whimpering and looks back to the bed. He catches Mort's body roll over, facing towards him. The sight pains him. Mortimer curls into a ball, his hands gripping the blanket for dear life. Jon could tell Mort is shaking under the blanket. The worse for him was the tears and the painful expression on his face.

"Noo..." Mortimer moans.

Jon sighs and turns back to his arm, disconnecting the wires and starts to close it. He is really starting to worry about his room mate. Since coming back to their room, Mort seemed to be in a odd state. He was quiet and withdrawn. When Ororo stopped by to bring them some dinner, Mort had basically hopped into the space between the bed and the wall, hiding from her line of sight. As for the meal, he only ate a few bites before stating he was done and wanted to go to sleep. Jon knows that Mortimer laid under the blanket for a few hours before he actually fell asleep. That had been only an hour ago.

Closing the open panel of his arm, Jon gets up and walks over to the bed. Carefully he crawls over towards Mort's shaking body before laying down beside it. As usual, Mort's form tenses when Jon wraps his arms around him. He moves closer to Mort's ear.

"Mortimer?" Jon whispers. "It's okay. You're safe."

"Jon?" Mortimer replies in a frightened voice.

"It's me," Jon confirms.

"No...not here," Mortimer mumbles.

"I am right here Mort. I'm right here with you," Jon tells him.

"No!" Mortimer yells and tries to pull away.

Jon's eyes widen. Mortimer has never struggled against him before. This isn't the usual nightmare that has plagued Mortimer over the past few nights.

"Easy Mortimer! Calm down. It's okay," Jon tries to soothe.

"No. They...find us. Blood. The gunshots," Mortimer whimpers, curling even tighter.

"Mortimer, listen to me. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Then I want you to open them," Jon instructs Mort like he has over the past couple of nights.

Jon waits and after a few minutes is about to try again when Mortimer takes a deep breath and slowly opens his eyes. He goes very still in Jon's arms as he looks around at the room. Jon sighs, and is about to sit up when he feels Mortimer's body begin to shake again. He hears Mortimer begin to sob, turning his face into the pillow in a futile effort to hide it.

"Mort? What's going on? Speak to me," Jon pleas, panic filling his mind.

"I...I can't," Mortimer replies between sobs.

"You know you can trust me Mortimer. Whatever it is, you don't have to feel like you have to keep it to yourself. But I won't make you tell me either, okay?" Jon tells him as he gently rubs the fellow mutant's back.

It takes several minutes for Mortimer to calm down. Finally, after taking a few deep yet shaky breathes, his body stops shaking.

"I'm sorry," Mortimer squeaks out.

"You're fine," Jon tells him.

"Jon..."

Jon looks down at Mortimer, meeting his watery gaze when Mortimer turns his face away from the pillow.

"I'm afraid. I'm so afraid," Mortimer shares weakly.

"Of what?" Jon asks.

"Everything," Mortimer replies.

Jon doesn't ask anything further, he simply lays next to Mortimer and gently rubs his back. Mortimer sighs and turns his face away.

"I've always been afraid. Only time I felt close to safe is when I...I'm with those that make others afraid. I don't have that now," Mortimer continues.

"You miss the Brotherhood?" Jon asks wondering if maybe this is the reason for his earlier mood.

"Yes. And no. I can't...I can't explain it," Mortimer moans.

"You don't have to. It's okay," Jon replies.

"Are you really this good? Or is there something you want from me?" Mortimer asks, his voice rising in pitch.

"Yes Mort, there is something I want from you," Jon replies. He's not sure what is going to be the outcome of the next few words. He just hopes it doesn't make Mort withdraw even more. "I want you to be able to trust me. To know you can rely on me. I know I'm not on the same level as the others or the Brotherhood. My mutant ability pales in comparison to any of them. It's why I'm rarely taken on missions. So I also know that it doesn't seem like I can protect you. But believe me, I will."

Mortimer sits up, looking at Jon with a mix of surprise and wonder. Jon sits up as well.

"Why...why would you say that?" Mortimer asks him, his voice shaking. The words Jon is telling him, they are words he's always wanted to hear but didn't hope to ever hear them. That's why he always clung to the promises Pietro offered him. Even when he realized that they were hollow promises. Something inside of him wants to believe Jon, to believe he isn't offering a hollow promise. But he also needs to know why Jon is willing to even offer to make such a promise.

Jon takes in a deep breath. He meets Mortimer's gaze, noticing the unease and glimmer of fear in Mort's large amber eyes.

Mortimer can't help but feel exposed somehow with the way Jon is looking at him. Let he finds himself frozen, unable to look away. He watches Jon extend his hand towards his face until his fleshly fingers tenderly touch the green skin of his cheek. He opens his mouth as if to gasp but can't seem to breath out or in. Jon's fingers strokes the skin for a minute before gliding them down under his chin, sending shivers through Mort's body. He feels Jon's hand cup his chin and gently pulls him forward which he complies without hesitation.

A voice in Jon's mind tries to warn him, suggesting that he should stop before it's too late. It reminds him that he doesn't know what he is doing. And not only that but he still doesn't know Mortimer's feelings. Jon ignores these thoughts. Something in him tells him that what he is about to do the right thing. Maybe it's a lie, maybe he's just being selfish, taking advantage of the situation. These thoughts fail to stop him.

Mortimer watches as Jon leans forward, moving his face very close to Mortimer's own. In an instant, Jon's lips press hard against Mortimer's own. Mortimer's eyes widen as Jon pulls back, frowning for a moment before moving in again, this time his lips lightly touching Mortimer's in a tender kiss. As the kiss continues, Mortimer closes his eyes. There is a sensation of warmth spreading through him, making him feel like he's melting from the inside. It's strange and nearly frightening to him but he finds himself drawn in. When Jon moves back, breaking the kiss, Mortimer moves forward so their lips are once again together.

Jon was caught off guard by Mortimer initiating another kiss. He really expected to be cussed out if not kicked in the face. He wonders what he should take the kiss to mean. He also wonders if his was able to express what he couldn't say. When Mortimer backs away breaking the kiss, Jon stays still and keeps his eyes closed for a moment. Taking in a slow deep breath, he musters up his nerves and opens his eyes.

Mortimer is looking down, his dreadlocks hiding his face. He seems to be as still as Jon is, for Jon. Maybe, Jon thinks, he did the wrong thing. That he just did even more damage than the good he was hoping for. Releasing a deep breath, Jon shifts to the foot of the bed.

"I...I have some work that needs to be done before morning. So I'm going to go. Try to get some more sleep. I'll be back once I'm finished," Jon mutters.

Mortimer doesn't move, showing no signs that he had heard what Jon had said.

"Mort?"

Slowly, Mortimer nods his head.

"Okay, I'm going to go. Umm...if you want, when I get back we can talk. If you're awake I mean. But before I go, are you...are you okay?" Jon asks.

"I'm...I'm fine," Mortimer replies, his voice sounding tired and strained.

Jon nods despite Mortimer not seeing him and he gets up. He walks over to the door but stops before looking back.

"If...if I did anything wrong, I'm sorry," Jon tells his room mate before quickly leaving the room.

Mortimer doesn't move for several minutes after Jon leaves the room. His mind replays the kiss over and over again. He reaches his hand up and touches his lips. When he notices he could feel them, he admits what had happened. Jon had kissed him. And he kissed Jon. Why, his mind asks. Mortimer tries to remember what happened before the kisses. Slowly he remembers. He had another nightmare. One of him being back on the streets, running from some gang banger wanna be's that managed to get their hands on some guns. And they decided to have a mutant hunt.

Mortimer remembers that cold night. It was just after he left the foster home. He was sneaking into the office space on an old warehouse to sleep at nights. But on that night, someone saw him. Though he tried to hide his appearance, the way he moved had given him away. The same punks in his dream, all three of them, forced him into a deadly game of hide and seek. He had to hide or get shot. He remembers being so terrified the next several nights, jumping at every laugh of a stranger, a trash can following over or when a car backfired.

Jon had appeared in the dream, calling him out of his hiding spot in the ceiling. He knows why Jon has been appearing in his nightmares. How he lures him out to safety and out of the nightmares. He did what Jon had asked him and he woke from the nightmare. Jon was worried, he knows that. Didn't help he had started crying. He didn't want to but he couldn't help it. He had felt overwhelmed. The memory, even though the incident happened years ago, was still very vivid. As if it happened yesterday. He had other memories that would also be just as clear. Like when he was trapped under the building. That, he knows, has been burned into his mind and therefore added to the collection of dark painful memories. Ones that will assault him when he sleeps. His only savior from these assaults used to be the angry shouts of his team mates. Now it was Jon's comforting words and his embrace.

Thinking of Jon, he remembers the words Jon had said just before they kissed. Jon had honestly asked Mortimer to trust him, to rely on him. To know that Jon will protect him. Just thinking of the words makes Mortimer tear up. This time though it's not out of fear, pain or sadness. Since as long as he could remember, he wanted one of the things Jon had said.

Trust was a hard subject for him. He hadn't even fully trusted the Brotherhood. His trust didn't seem to ever be required. He was expected to follow their orders and stay out of the way. But there was a time where he had trust in them. Trust that they would always come to get him out of sticky situations. One that burned him later when Pietro was going to leave him at the detainment camp. This made it clear that he couldn't rely on them any more too. He was always weary of Pietro's orders after that but still followed them and never attempted to leave them. It was in him to be loyal despite his best interests.

He thinks about Jon and each of their interactions. Jon has always been honest as far as he could tell. If Jon said he was going to do something, he would do it. And it appears that Jon believed him with ease. He never looked at him suspiciously or showed any signs of doubt. Mortimer has thought once or twice that he could tell Jon that the moon was really made of cheese and Jon would believe him. Or at least act like he does.

As for Jon telling him that he will protect Mortimer...those were the words that had meant the most. It was what he always wanted. He wanted it before he ran away to live on the streets. What he had wanted during all those dark times in his life. What he was searching for while he was on the streets. What he had foolishly believed he had with the Brotherhood.

Jon was up front and honest. Maybe too honest. Mortimer didn't like hearing the inventor putting himself down like he did. He wonders if the other X-men put him down. The Brotherhood would if Jon was with them, he had no doubt about that. But were things any better for him? He remembers what Jon had told him behind the garage. He had put himself down then too. Called himself a glorified repairman. He had admitted he was insecure. Mortimer thought he was just saying it then but hearing it again, he knows Jon isn't just saying it to make him feel better. Something Mortimer could relate to.

So it all leads to the kisses. Mortimer feels himself blush. When Jon kissed him, it was Mortimer's first true kiss. Something he never expected to happen in his life time. After all, who would kiss something like him? Girls naturally didn't like toads so why would anyone like a person who resembled one? He hadn't thought that a guy could look past his mutation and possibly see something besides the slimy disgusting toad. And yet it seems it happened. At least a part of him hopes it happened. He really did care for Jon and wouldn't mind if the relationship grew more than just friendship, a term he is still adjusting to. But another part warns him not to hope too much. Hopes can easily turn to pain. Yet he finds himself reliving the kiss and tells himself that this is one memory that he wouldn't mind never being able to forget. He would be happy if he dreamed about it tonight. With that, he lays down and tries to get a bit more sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 12
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

Jon worked well into the early morning. None of what he worked on needed to be done so quickly but he wanted to keep busy. Yet no matter how hard he tried, he kept feeling the kiss on his lips or seeing Mortimer sitting on the bed as if frozen to the spot. He knows he should have stayed. Tried to talk to him. But in his moment of panic, he ran off. And now he was too afraid to go back to his room. What would be waiting for him when he goes back?

Finally, he stumbles into the kitchen. He figures he might as well grab breakfast for the both of them and then face the music. Maybe the food will curve any angry outbursts that's to occur. Because he had not doubt that Mortimer would accept what he did. Yes, Mortimer kissed him but that was just a natural reaction, he tells himself. Mortimer was working from a lack of sleep. From the highs of a nightmare. And Jon had taken advantage of him.

He sighs as he waits for the coffee to brew. He doesn't notice that Kurt had walked into the kitchen and was now watching him.

"Are you okay Forge? You look...off," Kurt asks with concern.

"Eh?" Forge turns around, nearly jumping from hearing the voice of his fellow X-man. "Oh, Kurt. Yeah I'm fine. I was just up late finishing a few projects."

"You should make sure you get some sleep now and then. Logan wouldn't like it if you fall asleep while you are suppose to be doing something on the field," Kurt warns.

"Yeah, I hear you. Just getting some breakfast then I might crash for a bit," Forge says off handily, not at all planning to get some sleep any time soon.

"How are things with Toad?" Kurt asks tentatively. "Is he okay?"

"He's fine. No thanks to Scott though. I swear, no one around here is willing to give him a chance. We gave Rogue a chance when she came back," Forge mutters bitterly.

"I guess that was because we hoped she would come back. She was one of us at one point. Toad, he wasn't," Kurt suggests his theory. In truth, this is the very thing he believed. After all, he was given a second chance after going to Genosha.

"He's not a bad person, Kurt. Just got the short end of the stick," Forge replies. He turns back to the coffee pot, listening to it perk and sigh.

"Nein, I don't think he is either," Kurt agrees.

The two wait for the coffee to finish in silence. When it's ready, Forge pours himself a cup with sugar and French vanilla creamer. Kurt takes a cup, only adding a little bit of milk.

"Would you mind if I stop by later?" Kurt asks.

"Umm, sure? Is there something you need me for?" Forge asks, secretly hoping that there isn't. Despite him being afraid of the outcome of his earlier actions, he is starting to really want to talk to Mortimer at the moment.

"Nein, nothing like that. I am simply thinking of...talking to him," Kurt shares.

Forge looks over at Kurt suspiciously.

"I won't harm him or cause any trouble. We are all not like Scott," Kurt tells Forge, not missing the sudden protectiveness that has come over his fellow X-man. He thinks about what Kitty and Rogue had told him the night before. Maybe there is something to girl's intuition after all.

"Should be fine," Forge finally answers. "Later would be best."

Kurt nods and watches as Forge finishes his cup of coffee before gathering up the two plates of food and the orange juice. He doesn't bother to ask if Forge could use a hand. It was clear that this was something Forge wanted to do alone. Why, Kurt couldn't understand but decides to let things be. Besides, they have a morning exercise session in the Danger room in an hour. Within minutes he is joined by the other members of his team.

Forge makes it back to the door leading to his room and stops. He couldn't stall for time anymore. The plates of food he held were getting cold. He tells himself to quit fooling around and go in. What is the worse that can happen? Mortimer yelling at him? Kicking him across the room? Telling him it was a mistake? That Mortimer didn't feel the same way? Or that Jon's only feelings disgusted him? Jon shakes his head, trying to dispel the voices of his fears. He needed to get it together. So he takes a deep breath and enters the pass code to enter his room.

Stepping inside, he doesn't find a angry room mate but one who is sleeping peacefully for a change. Moving quietly, Jon walks down the steps and sets the food and juice down on the desk. Then he looks back to the bed. There is Mortimer, sleeping curled up on his left side. But there were no moans, no whimpers. Just steady breathing. Jon moves closer, to get a better view of Mort's face. Jon can't help but smile at seeing a peaceful expression for once being on the fellow mutant's sleeping face instead of the fear and painful expressions that usually reside in his features.

Not able to help himself, Jon carefully climbs into bed and lays close to Mort's body. Though he couldn't see Mortimer's face, he enjoys watching the steady rise and fall of the young man's side as he breathes. Jon wonders what Mortimer is dreaming about. What is causing this sleep without fearful cries? Without thinking, Jon reaches out and gently runs his fingers over Mortimer's dreadlocks. Before he could chastise himself for making such a gesture without asking, Mortimer begins to stir as he wakes up. Jon quickly withdraws his hand as the green mutant sits up while yawning before turning to look at him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you," Jon apologizes as he looks away to hide that he is blushing.

"It's okay. Do I smell food?" Mortimer asks, looking around the room.

"Pancakes. They are on the desk," Jon replies.

Mortimer tosses the blanket off and with skill, he jumps over to the desk. His mouth starts watering the moment he lifts the plate covers. He sets the cover down and looks back over to Jon.

"Eh, is it okay to?" Mortimer asks.

Jon smiles at the child like expression on Mortimer's face at this very moment.

"Go ahead. There's orange juice too," Jon replies as he gets up and joins Mortimer.

The two eat their breakfast quietly. Jon finds himself stealing glances at Mort as he eats, seeing the pure joy in his expressions. A thought comes to him.

"When was the last time you had pancakes?" Jon asks.

"Me? Oh, umm...can't really remember. Usually I don't eat breakfast. Except an orange here or there. Even that wasn't too often. We would eat what we found at the hideout or steal from the local connivence store. Mostly just sandwich stuff. Anything that didn't require cooking," Mortimer replies with a shrug.

"Did you miss meals often?" Jon asks, his curiosity peaking.

"Well, eating three square meals a day wasn't exactly a priority. And...often I didn't really earn it," Mortimer replies before taking another bite of his pancakes and practically purring at the taste.

"What do you mean by earn it?"

"You know, follow orders and not mess up. Often I couldn't do the second part no matter how hard I tried. So to help that part sink in, I wouldn't eat that night. Got to the point where I just went to my room after a mission. Or wherever I was suppose to sleep that night," Mortimer answers.

"So being here must seem really strange," Jon comments.

"Yeah but in a good way. Even when I was a...well you know, I was still given three meals and didn't have to sleep on the floor. Even the MRD camps weren't that nice," Mortimer shares.

"Yeah, I can't imagine hospitality being their top priority," Jon agrees.

They both finish their breakfast quietly. When they are finished, Jon looks over at the bed, thinking how to start the much needed conversation.

"So...about earlier, was that just a...a fluke or something?" Mortimer asks.

Jon suddenly turns to Mortimer in shock. He didn't plan on Mortimer to be the one to bring it up first. And he didn't expect that question. Mortimer is looking down at his feet, his hands nervously playing with one of his dreadlocks.

"A fluke?" Is all Jon could get out.

"Yeah. I mean, it's okay if it was. Probably grossed you out. But it's okay," Mortimer mumbles.

"It didn't gross me out. Did it...bother you?" Jon asks.

"Bother me? No, not really. Didn't expect it. Never expected it..." Mortimer replies quietly.

"Oh. So umm...you know why I did it, right?" Jon continues, feeling his face burn.

Mortimer looks up, not at Jon, seeming to think about it before lowering his head and shaking it.

"Do you remember when I was going to ask you something before?" Jon asks.

Mortimer nods.

"Well... What I wanted to ask you...well it was to ask you how you felt about me," Jon shares, looking at his own boots as he said this.

"How I felt? What do you mean?" Mortimer asks a little bit hesitantly.

"Oh, you know...," Jon tries to think of how to explain the question but comes up blank.

"I really like you," Mortimer says quietly, his voice trembling, "and I like being with you since I've been here. I like talking with you. I like watching you repair things and invent other things. I like how you listen to me, even if what I say is stupid. I like how you always seem to be able to wake me up from my nightmares and how you hold me even after I'm awake. I like that you don't seem to be disgusted by me. Or that you don't seem annoyed with me when I break down crying. And I really liked what you did before."

Jon is speechless by Mortimer's confession. This was what he was hoping to hear as the best case scenario but he thought that was just a fantasy. But Mortimer had just admitted he liked him. He watches as Mortimer begins to slightly tug on his dreadlocks nervously, glancing at Jon before quickly looking away.

"I...I feel the same," Jon hears himself say.

Mortimer's eyes linger on Jon when he says those words. Slowly he moves closer to Jon, crouching by the X-man's legs.

"Do you...really feel the same? It's okay if you don't. I'm use to it so you don't have to..." Mortimer starts to say before Jon slides off his chair and slides a hand under Mort's chin, lifting his face.

"Mort, shut up and kiss me," Jon tells him with a smile.

Mortimer returns the smile and does as Jon instructed. They seem to lose themselves the minute their lips meet, as if the world had faded away and there was just the two of them. Neither know how they managed to get to the bed without breaking their kiss. They didn't really care.

When they finally did break due to their lungs protesting their need for air, they hear the sound of giggling. Both turn to the source and manage to see long brown hair go through the wall.

"Hey Kurt! You might want to come back later, they are kinda busy," they hear Kitty's voice call out from outside their room.

"Oh boy..." Jon mutters.

"What just happened?" Mortimer asks, clutching to Jon's vest nervously.

"We were just walked in on. And just our luck, it was the mansion's queen of gossip. I'd say we have five minutes before everyone knows what we were doing," Jon answers, feeling his checks burn.

Mortimer groans and presses his face against Jon's chest. Jon looks down and can't help himself as he smiles at the cute sight of Mortimer hiding his face against him.

"It's going to be fine. Hopefully. Should be..." Jon tries to persuade.

"Hopefully? Should be? You really suck at this. Is there somewhere we could hide before Wolverine skins me alive or Cyclops blasts me out of here?" Mortimer mutters.

"Neither of those things are going to happen. Everything will be fine," Jon replies, holding the fellow mutant.

There is a knock on the door and Mortimer cringes.

"So much for five minutes," Mortimer mutters as Jon gets up and goes to the door.

Jon glances back to see Mortimer roll off the side of the bed in a feeble attempt to hide. With a sigh he opens the door, finding Kurt standing there.

"Sorry if I am interrupting anything. I...waited a few minutes after Kitty said I should..." Kurt tries to explain, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"It's okay. Come on in," Forge replies, stepping aside to allow Kurt to enter the room.

"I could come back later. The training session got put on hold because Logan and Ororo got called out so I thought I'd stop by now but..." Kurt tries to offer.

"Why were they called out? By whom?" Forge asks.

"Logan didn't say. But he wasn't too happy about it," Kurt shares.

"When is he ever happy? Though he has been more stressed since the Water street event. Maybe it's MRD related?" Forge wonders.

"I wouldn't doubt it. At least there hasn't been any further incidents. Things are starting to calm down, though it's at a very slow pace. We all still have to be careful when we're out there," Kurt replies.

Forge nods and notices Kurt looking around the room.

"Mort. It's alright to come out. It's just Kurt," Forge calls out.

Kurt looks back to Forge who nods over towards the bed. Sure enough, Mortimer peeks up from the side of the bed.

"Hello Mortimer," Kurt greets.

"Hey Kurt," Mortimer replies, glancing between the two for a moment before getting up.

"Everything okay?" Kurt asks noticing the obvious nervous gestures.

"Huh? Yeah, for now they are," Mortimer replies.

"Did something happen?" Kurt asks, glancing back at Forge.

"Well, it's kinda hard to explain," Forge mumbles.

Kurt notices how both men turn away.

"Well anyway, Mortimer I was wondering if we could go and have a talk. It's nice outside so I thought we could talk out by the trees," Kurt asks.

Mortimer's eyes widen in surprise at the suggestion.

"You wanna talk?" Mortimer asks.

"Ja. Of course Forge could come too," Kurt replies, looking over at Forge and meeting his gaze for a moment.

"Is it really okay? I mean, what if the others are outside?" Mortimer asks as he looks around the room nervously as if by mentioning them they would suddenly appear.

"It will be okay Mort," Forge answers before Kurt can. "You are allowed outside as long as someone is with you, remember? So if it's the three of us, no one can say anything."

"And if there is trouble," Kurt starts to share before quickly teleporting to Mortimer's side, receiving a cry of surprise from the fellow mutant, "I can always teleport both of you back to your room."

"Oh-okay. If you both are sure," Mortimer replies.

Both men nod before going to the door, followed by Mortimer who hops behind them nervously.

As Kurt had said, it was very nice out. Forge hanged back as Kurt and Mortimer exchanged conversation. After a few minutes he notices that Mortimer is beginning to relax, speaking without hesitation or constantly looking around with narrow eyes. Forge mentally agrees that he likes seeing Mortimer this relaxed with someone else. Not always being afraid of...well whatever he's always afraid of. Try as he might, Forge kept watching Mortimer, noticing the small details. The way his dreadlocks moved when he nods or shakes his head. How he tends to gesture with his hands, specially when frustrated. And those amber colored eyes. If Forge had to pick a feature that drew him most to Mortimer, it was his eyes. If Forge wanted to know how Mortimer was feeling about something, all he needed to do was look into Mortimer's eyes. He wonders what would show in his eyes if he just spent a night kissing Mortimer's green skin. Blushing, he shakes his head and reprimands himself.

"So how far can you...umm...what did you call it?" Mortimer asks.

"Teleport. I could teleport into the center of town but I would be very worn out from it. Couldn't make a return trip," Kurt answers.

"Still, it beats walking or hoping," Mortimer replies as he thinks about how cool it would be to have that ability. He looks towards the property wall, teleporting to the center of town would be something.

"How high can you jump?" Kurt asks curiously.

"Watch this!" Mortimer replies as he jumps up into a tree, easily clearing over 5 feet. He grabs a branch and skillfully swings himself up so he is sitting on it. He grins at the two below him.

Forge whistles at the display of Mortimer's jump.

"Impressive," Kurt states.

"That ain't nothing," Mortimer replies with a mischievous grin. He suddenly shoots out his tongue which hits Forge's goggles and when he retracts it, the goggles come with it.

"Hey!" Forge cries out.

Mortimer just grins and waves the goggles. His teasing grin falters when he smells the brimstone and feels someone snatching the goggles from his hand.

"Wha..." Mortimer asks as he looks up to see Kurt hanging upside down from the branch above him, grinning.

"You know, I've never see Forge without these," Kurt comments as he looks at the eye wear in his hand.

"Yeah. He even sleeps with them on," Mortimer reveals.

"Guys! Give those back now!" Forge shouts.

"I think he's going through withdraws," Kurt says with a chuckle.

"Guess we should give em back," Mortimer replies.

"Not quite yet. I have an offer for you. I've noticed that you have been stealing glances at the property wall. You could go out there with Forge," Kurt suggests.

"How?" Mortimer asks, surprised that his desire to be away from the mansion for a night was so easily noticed.

"I will loan you my image inducer. Forge can change it so the image would fit you better. All you have to do, is get these back," Kurt challenges, waving the goggles before teleporting away.

"Alright, you're on!" Mortimer shouts excitedly as he hops to the tree across from where he is once he spots the tell tale sign of the bamf noise and purplish smoke.

Forge meanwhile watches the two play some form of tag through the trees until they disappear. With a sigh he walks over to a bench and sits down. After a few minutes and no signs of the other two, Forge decides to stretch out on the bench and relax. Within minutes he falls asleep.

 

Meanwhile Scott is watching his fellow X-man sleeping on the bench. He scowls as he realizes that Forge has fallen asleep.

"They ain't causing any trouble," Rogue comments.

"Not yet. But you better than any of us know what Toad is like," Scott replies without turning to look at her.

"You're right, Ah do know him. That's why Ah can tell you that you need to cut him some slack. Toad's not a bad guy," Rogue states firmly, finally getting Scott's attention.

"Not a bad guy huh? So I guess I was just imagining all the times we fought with the Brotherhood and he was right there next to them," Scott challenges, stepping closer to Rogue.

"You're right. He was there. Key word being was. Now he's here. And has he done anything since he was here?" Rogue asks, also taking a step forward, making it clear she won't back down.

"Yeah he has. Unless you forgot, he attacked you, Forge and myself. Or does that not count because it was just three people? Maybe he needs to attack everyone on the team first," Scott questions.

"There you go again. Tell me Scott, what would you have done? If it was you instead of him? If you were captured by the Brotherhood, would you just sit back and let whatever happen to happen or would you fight?" Rogue asks.

Scott stands still, quiet for a moment as he thinks this over. He knows the answer. But if he admits it, then he would have to admit that he has been too hard on a Toad. That the way he has been treating him is wrong. And Scott isn't ready for that just yet.

"What I would do doesn't apply. He's the enemy Rogue. Doesn't matter that Logan is letting him stay. Personally I think Logan is losing it to make that kind of stupid decision. He should have handed him over to the MRD," Scott replies.

"Is that what you thought should have happened to me?" Rogue asks quietly.

"What?"

"Is that what you thought Logan should have done with me when Ah came back?" Rogue repeats.

"You were different Rogue," Scott mutters.

"Was Ah? Ah was there when they destroyed Senator Kelly's home. Ah was there when they blew up the MRD centers. Ah was there when they turned the public against you," Rogue states each sentence with a pained expression.

"But..." Scott tries to think of a way to dismiss what Rogue has said. It takes him a minute to think of a response. "You had your reasons Rogue."

"And Toad had his. Think of it this way. Imagine you had not only his abilities but his obvious mutant appearance. You know how the world is out there towards mutants. And how cruel they are to those whose mutant gene is so obvious. Let's be honest, you've fought him. You know how weak he is. His powers are pathetic. And he knows it. So how else is he suppose to survive out there Scott?" Rogue asks.

"He could have come to us," Scott replies, turning away.

"He didn't know about us at the time," Rogue reveals.

"How do you know?" Scott asks as he watches Forge.

"Because Ah asked him. It was after we had a run in with the MRD. He nearly got captured again. After the others went off on him, Ah talked to him. He had no clue we existed until after he had already joined the Brotherhood. And by then, he thought it was too late," Rogue shares. She recalls the look on Mortimer's face that night as she talked to him. It was as if he missed the biggest event in his life. She knew that it bothered him the rest of that night and a few days after. It went unnoticed by the other members.

"That didn't stop him from leaving them," Scott points out.

"Didn't you hear me? He thought it was too late. And judging by how you've been acting, he was right. But that does say something about his character," Rogue replies.

"Oh yeah? And what is that?" Scott asks, feeling that he has lost this fight.

"He's loyal. He stayed with them even after he realized he could have changed his life by joining us. Ah agree with you, he should have at least left them. But he didn't. He stayed with them even when he shouldn't have. You have to respect that," Rogue argues.

"Maybe. But is he still loyal to them now?" Scott asks, the angry tone gone from his voice.

"He knows that they have left him behind. Ah wouldn't test his loyalties right this minute but with time and certain people giving him a fair chance, ah don't think his former loyalties will be an issue. He's already forming new ones as you can see," Rogue comments as she looks out the window just in time to see Kurt teleport next to Forge then teleport away to dodge Toad's tongue.

"The Professor would have given him a chance, wouldn't he?" Scott asks.

"Yes, Ah think he would have," Rogue agrees.

After a few minutes they see Toad hopping back over to Forge, grinning. They watch as he carefully places the goggles back on the sleeping X-man without waking him.

"What's with Forge's goggles?" Rogue asks.

"I have no idea. How about we go ask? Maybe I'll let you do the talking. You could convince him that I'm not going to blast him into next week," Scott replies, glancing at Rogue.

"Ah wouldn't make any sudden movements with him," Rogue suggests as she walks with Scott out the back kitchen door.

Hearing the screen door close, Toad looks up. He had been watching Forge's sleeping face and imagining what it would be like to be out in public with Forge. He was filled with both excitement and fear. As much as he loves the idea to be out with Forge, his fear won't let him forget that he is deemed a public enemy. Fear that gets fueled when he see's Scott approaching him. He instinctively crouches down, ready to hop for his life.

Kurt teleports off to the side, ready to congratulate Mortimer and pass the image inducer that he got from his room when he notices Mortimer crouching down and trembling. Looking in the same direction as Mortimer, he spots the source of the young man's distress. He is about to walk over and fulfill his promise to teleport Mortimer to Forge's room when he notices Rogue. The two make eye contact and Rogue nods her head, letting Kurt know that everything will be okay. So he remains where he is standing.

"Toad," Scott calls out, forgetting his earlier idea of letting Rogue do the talking. He regrets this upon seeing Toad's fearful expression.

"I-I didn't d-do nothing man. I...I wasn't going to," Toad replies as he steps back and to the left from Forge. He's ready to hop but doesn't want Forge caught in the middle. His room mate has yet to wake up.

"Easy Toad. Scott just wants to talk," Rogue tells the frightened mutant.

"About what?" Toad asks cautiously.

"Like what was the deal with Forge's goggles?" Rogue asks.

"Uh...I-I wasn't stealing them. Well I did take them. But it..." Toad tries to explain, rubbing his hands together nervously.

"We were having a little exercise. A competition of sorts," Kurt fills in, to Toad's relief.

"Exercise huh? How did he do?" Scott asks.

"He won," Kurt answers.

Scott looks down at Toad, thinking over what he was told. Toad is doing his best not to make eye contact with Scott, afraid that by doing so will ruin the non violent mood Scott seems to be in.

"What was the competition? To us it looked like you were playing tag or something," Rogue comments with a smile.

"K-kinda was," Toad mumbles.

"So what was the prize? Or was it just getting Forge's goggles?" Rogue continues to ask.

"N-no, not just that. I-if I won, Kurt s-said I could borrow his...umm," Toad tries to remember what the name of the device is that will let him go out in public without being maimed but comes up blank.

"Image inducer," Kurt fills in.

"For what?" Scott asks.

"Umm, to go out with Forge?" Toad answers, closing his eyes to brace himself for the yelling.

"Go out with Forge? Out where?" Scott continues to question, his mood souring.

"Y-ya know, out t-there," Toad answers, gesturing to the wall surrounding the property.

"No way," Scott states firmly. "There's no way you are leaving here. Forget about it!" Scott shouts. His mind is coming up with a dozen different scenarios of what could happen and none of them ended well.

"Scott, why can't he? It's not like he will go out there alone," Kurt points out, stepping closer to Toad who had lowered his head sadly.

"Too much could happen. He could get spotted. Or cause trouble. I wouldn't be surprised if he left Forge behind if the MRD came after them," Scott all but growls out.

"No I wouldn't!" Toad cries out, glaring at Scott as he stands up. "I'd rather walk into one of their detainment camps than do that to him!"

"So you say now," Scott replies quietly but not with the firmness he had just a moment ago.

"Hey Scott, be fair here. As you said earlier, the Professor would give him a chance. Let this be the chance," Rogue suggests with hope.

"He can't cause that much trouble Scott. Besides, he knows that he has to face Logan if he does," Kurt adds, not missing the nervous swallow Toad takes at mentioning their leader's name.

Scott glances at both of his team mates for a moment before looking at Toad. Toad meets his gaze but isn't able to stop himself from trembling.

"Fine. But someone else has to go with them. I don't trust Forge to be able to think of a way to get himself out of trouble if there is any," Scott says, releasing a sigh.

"Ouch," Forge comments.

The group look over to the bench and see's Forge is still lying on the bench but watching them in an up down fashion.

"Forge. I didn't mean it as an offense. Just that you..." Scott tries to explain.

Forge sits up. He raises a hand to interrupt Scott.

"It's fine. Don't really agree to having a baby sitter and all but if that's what has to be done," Forge replies, rolling his eyes at Scott to show his annoyance. He is sorely tempted to argue the issue but looking at Mortimer's face which shows that he is still excited to be allowed out despite the idea of having chaperones.

"Alright then. Make sure you have someone whose going to go with you when ever you decide to go out. Toad, what Kurt said earlier isn't a joke. You screw up and I personally take you to have a chat with Logan," Scott tells them before walking away.

The group watches Scott go back into the institute before daring to say anything.

"Well that wasn't too bad," Kurt comments.

"Ehh," Toad moans as he sinks back down into a crouching position, rubbing his forehead.

"You okay Mort?" Forge asks.

Mortimer doesn't reply, he simply nods his head.

"How long were you awake Forge?" Rogue asks.

"Huh? Oh, umm, halfway through that I think?" Forge answers, scratching his chin.

"Toad, catch," Kurt calls out.

Toad looks up just in time to see Kurt toss something towards him. Toad panics but manages to catch the item. He looks at it carefully but to m it looks just like a sports watch.

"The image inducer. As promised," Kurt tells him.

Toad glances up at Kurt, looking for a sign of this being a prank but all he see's is the gentle smile on the blue elf's face that is not of mischief but encouragement.

"I didn't know you still had the old thing," Forge comments.

"I couldn't bare to toss it away despite that I won't use it. I guess it's a good thing I didn't," Kurt replies.

"T-thank you," Mortimer tells Kurt as he clutches the image inducer close to his chest.

"Your welcome. Wish I could volunteer to come along but for obvious reasons, I can not," Kurt tells him.

"Ah can though. And to make Scott happy, ah know someone else who can come along," Rogue offers.

"Why not? The more the merrier," Forge replies, offering a smile.

"Trust me, it won't be as bad as it sounds," Rogue says with a devilish smile. Only Kurt notices and raises an eyebrow. She just nods in his direction. "Anyway, Ah'll see you two later."

"I should go too. Toad, anytime you would like to do this again, let me know. Though I won't always hold back," Kurt tells him with a playful smile before following Rogue.

"Any time you are ready to get your butt kicked!" Toad calls out, smiling.

Forge looks over at the fellow mutant, examining Mortimer's face for anything to be concern about. But all he see's is the happiness Mortimer is feeling from the moment.

"So, you seem to be okay," Forge comments.

"Yeah. I was...terrified for a few minutes there. But I'm really happy now. Uh..." Something comes to Mortimer's mind. "I...I didn't ask if you wanted to...umm...go out tonight. Do you?"

Mortimer watches as Jon stands up and stretches before walking over to him. He tenses for a moment when Jon wraps his arms around him but he quickly relaxes as Jon holds him close.

"Of course I want to go out with you," Jon replies. "I should have thought to suggest that sooner."

Mortimer smile widens as he enjoys the moment of being held like this in the sun before again a thought comes to him.

"Umm, is okay for us to be like this? W-where the others could see?" Mortimer asks, as he looks around.

"I don't care if the others see us together. Does it bother you?" Jon asks.

Mortimer doesn't answer right away, but thinks this over. Jon notices the thoughtful expression and withdraws his arms, letting Mortimer go.

"Don't worry. We just started this so it can't hurt to take things a bit slow. Just couldn't resist," Jon tells Mortimer, smiling patiently.

"Couldn't resist, huh?" Mortimer repeats, smiling again.

"I love hugging you," Jon admits.

"I love this," Mortimer whispers before quickly turning around and kisses Jon.

When they part, Jon is blushing madly.

"I think I love that too," Jon comments, not caring how silly that sounds.

"So what are we going to do until tonight?" Mortimer asks.

Jon sighs as he looks back towards the institute.

"Well, I better see if there is anything that needs to be done. I don't want anything to get in the way of us getting out of here tonight," Jon answers. "Sorry if that disappoints you."

"As long as I can tag along, I'm good," Mortimer replies.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 13
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

Later that day, Jon finishes the final adjustments to Kurt's image inducer. All that was left to do was test out the image. He looks over at the bathroom door, listening to the shower water being turned off. Mortimer insisted he shower before going anywhere. Jon could tell how important this outing has become for his boyfriend.

After a few minutes, Mortimer leaves the bathroom. Jon smiles at what he sees. Mortimer looks over at him, dressed in clothes that Jon had either found in his own closet or borrowed from one of the fellow teammates. He is wearing a white tank top covered by a grey hooded jacket that was left open in the front and black jeans. He wore his trade mark fingerless gloves and his dreadlocks were tied back. Jon had to fight the urge to whistle, for even though the outfit itself was nothing fancy, it looked good. Specially the pants for they outlined Mortimer's muscled legs.

"Does this look too weird?" Mortimer asks, noticing Jon is staring at him. He feels nervous that he might look ridiculous for the pants seemed too tight and the hooded jacket was a size too big and it was out of season. But he wanted to be safe in case someone accidentally touched him and would feel his unusual cool skin.

"No, quite the opposite really," Jon replies with a smile. "How about me?"

Mortimer looks over Jon who is also dressed casually. Jon had decided to wear dark blue jeans and red t-shirt with a leather vest over it. Yet something seemed to be different about the X-man besides the civilian attire. It takes Mortimer a few minutes to realize what it is.

"Your arm and leg!" Mortimer cries out before he is able to stop himself.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Just a precaution. It's like the image inducer but only covers my arm and leg. See?" Jon explains as he presses a unseen button on his right wrist, turning what appears to be flesh back into a cybernetic arm. Another press of the button and it appears flesh again. "Though my arm and leg really have nothing to do with my mutant power except that it was due to my power that I could even make them, people still get uncomfortable seeing a real live six million dollar man walking around."

"Six million?" Mortimer asks a bit confused.

"Heh, a bad reference I guess. Anyway, people tend to link my arm and leg to me being a mutant. Since we don't want any trouble, I will do this," Jon tells him.

Mortimer smiles despite feeling bad that Jon even has to hide parts of his appearance just to go out in public.

"You look really good, either way I mean," Mortimer replies.

Jon stands up and passes him the image inducer.

"It's a shame we have to be so careful. Anyway, here is the image inducer. Go ahead and put it on. Then I will show you how to turn it on," Jon says as he passes the image inducer to Mortimer.

Mortimer looks at the image inducer in his hand for a moment before placing it on his wrist. Jon points to a small white button and Mortimer presses it.

Jon nods his approval of the Mortimer he is now seeing. The green spotted skin is hidden beneath the image of lightly tan skin, his large golden eyes now appear to be of normal size but the same color. His hands hand normal fingers without claws and his feet were covered in the appearance of black boots. All in all, Mortimer now appeared as an average everyday person. This brings a wave of sadness over Jon. If it weren't for Mortimer's obvious mutant gene, he wouldn't need an image inducer to go out in public.

"Is it working?" Mortimer asks.

Jon realizes that Mortimer is looking at him rather than himself.

"Look at your hands," Jon instructs him.

Jon watches as Mortimer does so slowly and notices the eyes widen as Mortimer examines his hands. He wonders what Mortimer is feeling at this very moment, seeing normal fingers with a natural skin color.

"Wow," Mortimer whispers.

"Go check out the bathroom mirror. If there is anything you don't like, let me know, I can make adjustments," Jon tells him.

Mortimer nods but continues to examine his hands for a minute before walking back into the bathroom.

Jon waits patiently as Mortimer takes in his appearance. He doesn't even call out when their is a knock on their door. Jon gets up and enters the pass word and opens the door to find Rogue and Kitty standing outside.

"You guys almost ready? Or did we interrupt something?" Kitty asks with a smile.

"Like you did earlier? No, not this time. We're just about ready. Meet you at the front doors?" Jon asks as he glances back towards the bathroom.

"Alright. Don't be all night," Rogue replies as her and Kitty walk away.

Jon is about to close the door when he hears Mortimer come out of the bathroom.

"Wait! I'm ready!" Mortimer cries out.

Jon smiles and opens the door wider. Mortimer hops out the door and starts to hop after the girls who both stop and look back. He freezes when they start giggling.

"Umm, what's so funny?" Mortimer asks, cocking his head to the side.

"You may look like everyone else but your hopping is a dead give away," Rogue points out.

"Yeah, though you look really cute like that. Don't you agree Forge?" Kitty adds.

The image inducer reveals the blush that comes over Mortimer's face as he slowly stands up.

"Heh, forgot about that. No hopping," Mortimer mutters embarrassingly.

Jon shakes his head and joins Mortimer's side.

"Enough picking on him girls. And yes he does look cute," Jon replies with a mocking tone towards Kitty. The girls exchange looks before turning back around and continuing towards the metal stairs.

"You got the camera?" Rogue whispers.

"Right here," Kitty answers, pointing to her red hand stitched book bag.

Both girls glance back at the couple before grinning to each other.

Later, Rogue parks the jeep at the end of the main drag of town. Everyone gets out and looks about. They notice that the streets seem almost packed this evening. There was music playing, people shopping and even sitting on the benches having ice cream. Jon watches Mortimer as he nervously looks about.

"You okay?" Jon asks, taking Mortimer's hand and squeezing it slightly.

"T-there's a lot of people around. And the MRD," Mortimer replies, looking at a patrolling MRD officer.

"Don't worry about them. They ain't going to bother you two," Rogue tells him.

Her and Kitty start to cross the street and Jon and Mortimer start to follow before the girls stop them.

"Hold up boys. Why don't you two go and find something to do? Kitty and I have plans to do some shopping and Ah don't think you want to follow us around while we do that," Rogue tells them.

"Yeah, go have fun! This is like your first date right?" Kitty asks.

Neither men answer as they glance at each other.

"So go do what couples do already! There are some good movies playing down the street. When we're done, we'll meet you back here," Kitty tells them before the girls turn and walk away.

Jon and Mortimer don't move for a few minutes as they watch the girls disappear into the crowd. Jon clears his throat to draw Mortimer's attention.

"So it looks like our chaperones bailed on us. What should we do?" Jon asks.

"Eh, umm, I'm kinda hungry right now. Could we maybe grab something to eat?" Mortimer asks quietly.

"Sounds like a good start. Let's see what we can find," Jon replies with a smile.

Together both men walk down the street, their hands linked. A few feet behind them there is a click as Kitty snaps a picture of the pair without them knowing. The girl's plan had worked perfectly. As promised, they were chaperoning the couple but without them being aware of it so they didn't have to feel like little kids. They will take pictures and later Kitty will sneak the pictures into their room so they would have something to remember this night.

So they got pictures of them eating together at the local family dinner, getting ice cream after and then standing outside the theatre deciding which movie might be worth seeing.

Mortimer relaxed as time went by and he accepted the fact no one is going to freak out at his appearance. He was actually in shock earlier when Jon pointed out that their waitress had been flirting with him earlier. No one ever flirted with him before. And as Rogue had said earlier, the patrolling MRD didn't pay them any mind. No one cared. So he is in seventh heaven. He often thought this is the happiest moment he has been in his whole miserable life. He is out walking the town in the day light, simply enjoying himself and to top it off he is with Jon.

Jon also felt cry good about how their evening is going. He is enjoying watching Mortimer shed his fears and insecurities as they talked. He had stopped looking around nervously and begin to enjoy everything around him. It was like Mortimer was becoming a different person. Though there still were moments when Mortimer would flinch, like when a car backfired down one of the alleys they passed, Mortimer was generally at ease. And Jon couldn't help but feel good about being there to see this.

Neither pair noticed the sudden disappearance of the MRD patrolmen. It wasn't until the ground started to shake that they realized something was going wrong. Rogue and Kitty felt it first from across the street. It was a faint tremble. But both girls looked at each other with concern and started to make their way to the couple.

Still standing outside the movie theatre, looking at the now playing posters, Jon and Mortimer begin to notice a slight shaking sensation in the ground.

"Mort..." Jon whispers in alarming, grabbing his boyfriend's arm and pulling him up against the building.

"W-what is happening?" Mortimer asks.

Once Mortimer gets the question out, a large quake occurs. Before his eyes, the main road splits down the middle. Glass shatters. People start screaming. There are minor explosions. All seem to happen in the blink of an eye.

Mortimer turns his head and see's one of the display boards on the movie theatre come loose and start to fall. A young woman is looking at the road, unaware of the danger she is in. Mortimer let's go of Jon's hand and hops towards the woman. He manages to get her over his shoulder and hop again before the sign crashes into the ground. The woman screams in his ear as he sets her down in what he hopes to be a safe location.

More explosions happen and people start to rush down the streets in panic. He hears the familiar sounds of a building collapsing and he freezes. For a moment he see's himself trapped under the building again. He covers his ears and crouches down. He nearly screams when he feels someone tugging on his shoulder. He glances up and see's Jon who is obviously panicking .

"Mort! Mort come on! We need to leave! Now!" Jon orders.

Mortimer gets up and follows Jon as he runs down the street towards where the jeep was parked. They pass people screaming and crying. Another building collapses. The ground is still shaking. Then it stops. So does the couple. They look around, as if they could spot the source of the quake. But all they could see is the aftermath.

"What just happened?" Jon asks as he scans the street for Rogue and Kitty.

"I-it was l-like before. Just like before," Mortimer replies.

"Listen, I am going to radio this back to the others. I need you to go and see if you can find Rogue and Kitty," Jon instructs Mortimer.

Mortimer nods and leaves Jon, looking at each person he passes. Many people he saw were afraid. Some seem badly injured. As he continued to make his way around the destruction, he starts to hear sirens. Finally he spots Rogue and Kitty who are helping people out of the fallen debris of an collapsed building.

"I was told to find you two," Mortimer tells them as he joins them.

"We're fine. Where's Forge?" Rogue asks as Kitty phases through the remains again.

"At the jeep. He said he is going to radio the others. Can I help?" Mortimer asks.

"We got things..." Rogue starts to reply when someone starts to yell.

"Mutant! It's a mutant attack!"

"Mortimer, run! Go back to the jeep!" Rogue shouts at him.

Mortimer nods and starts to hop back towards where the jeep is. As he passes an alley, he notices MRD vehicles starting to arrive. He is close to the jeep, seeing Jon sitting in the driver seat and communicating to an image of Scott projected from his arm. Unaware to Jon, an MRD vehicle parks behind him and half a dozen MRD officers climb out.

Mortimer freezes to the spot. He remembers what Jon had said about people tending to accuse him of being a mutant simply from seeing his artificial limbs. Any second now they would see Jon communication with someone with his mechanical arm. They would arrest him.

Mortimer stands up and takes off the image inducer. He throws it over towards the jeep and takes in a deep breath.

"You're late again to the party you MRD losers! Betcha can't even catch me! Brotherhood rules!" Mortimer shouts, knowing his words will catch their attention.

He see's Jon suddenly look up, his dark eyes wide in shock. Mortimer smiles to himself as he quickly turns and hops away. He glances back only to make sure that the MRD officers are following him. He dodges a net before he turns down the alley. He knows there are MRD offices waiting for him but he doesn't stop. He spits his slime at the one in front of him, hitting his target. But before he could jump over the man, another takes his place and shoots another net at him.

Mortimer hits the ground hard, crying out when he connects with the pavement. Within seconds he is surrounded by the MRD. He hears one of them report into an earpiece that they have the Toad. Even though he knows better, he still struggles and squirms under the net. One of the men kneel down and press a taser against his side. The world turns to a blinding flash for a moment before the shock fades. Mortimer stops struggling and simply looks up at the men. One of the officers growls at him and kicks him in the head, knocking him out completely.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 14
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

When he comes to, he isn't surprised to find himself in the all too familiar cell of a mutant detainment camp. He shifts and finds his arms are restrained behind his back. This is new but not surprising. It was common knowledge who he had hung out with. So the MRD are not going to take any chances. Despite the pain emitting from the right side of his head, Mortimer kicks his legs, scooting himself to the back of the cell. Once he accomplishes this, he simply lays there.

He knew he would be caught. That was his plan. He would get caught but Jon wouldn't. As he lays there, he hopes that Kitty, Rogue, and Jon were able to get away from the MRD. After a few minutes he is sure they did. Knowing this made what he did worth it. For the first time, Mortimer felt some honest and true pride in himself.

He is barely aware of the sound of approaching steps until they were just outside his cell. Looking up, he feels himself shiver and his throat tighten.

"Welcome back Toad," Colonel Moss greets, smiling sinisterly at Mortimer.

Meanwhile Forge is in the war room with the rest of the team, looking at holograms of Wolverine and Storm. Hank is giving his report.

"It's the same as before. They even used the same satellite. Two points in town were hit, creating another earth quake like event. As we are seeing in the news, it is again being blamed on the Brotherhood," Hank informs the images.

"Is there any sign that the Brotherhood was even going to target the area?" Storm asks.

"None. Forge has already hacked into every security footage possible and there were no signs of the Brotherhood. The only member there was Toad," Hank answers.

"Why was he even there?" Wolverine asks in a near growl.

"We were having a night out," Forge answers. He could feel the other members turn their gaze to him but he doesn't care. He simply crosses his arms and continues to look only at the surface of the table in front of him.

"What were you thinking Forge? Taking him out there while he is considered a public enemy?" Storm asks.

"He needed it, okay? And we did everything we could to protect him. He had an image inducer on. He didn't use his powers," Forge replies.

"They weren't alone either. Rogue and I went with them. Toad kept a low profile," Kitty adds, offering a smile to Forge despite him not seeing it.

"Didn't seem to do him much good. What happened with the image inducer? From the reports I've been seeing, he was green when they took him in,"Wolverine questions.

"He...took it off. Tossed it by the jeep," Forge answers. He recalls when he notices Mortimer standing in front of the jeep. He had watched as the fellow mutant practically tore the thing off and throw it. "He did it to get the MRD's attention. I didn't know they were behind me."

No one says anything for a moment as they let this sink in.

"Water street, now Main Street. How far is the MRD willing to go? The Brotherhood is already a public enemy," Bobby asks.

"Ah think this won't end until the Brotherhood is either caught or they disappear. No one has seen them since the Water Street incident," Rogue comments.

"I doubt we will be hearing about any actual sightings of them anytime soon. If they had any plans to come out of hiding, this just cancelled them," Wolverine states.

"What are we going to do? About Mort...Toad?" Forge asks. His voice sounds almost hollow as he asks the question.

"Forge, I understand your concern but we can not go into an MRD detainment camp to rescue a member of the Brotherhood," Wolverine replies.

Wolverine isn't surprised to hear the loud bang as the chair Forge was sitting on when it hits the ground.

"You can't be serious! We have to rescue him! You told Rogue yourself that they will make an example out of him! That if..." Forge tries to get the rest of his argument out but isn't able to. Just a few minutes ago they confirmed which mutant detainment camp Mort was at and the worse part, it was where Colonel Moss was currently stationed at. It took everything Forge had not to imagine what was happening to Mort.

"Forge, we simply can not risk the public turn against us. I'm sorry bud. But that's my final answer," Wolverine states.

"Please...don't you understand? He got caught to protect me. He knew what they would do to him. But he still choose to get their attention before they could see me. I-I told him earlier about how my arm and leg always led people to make assumptions. I was reporting to Scott. I didn't think to be careful. I didn't know they were behind me. But he did," Forge tells them, his voice straining as he fights to keep himself from breaking down.

"No Forge," Wolverine states.

"Fine...if you won't get him, then I will!" Forge shouts at the hologram, finally raising his head. He doesn't care that he is now crying in front of his leader. "I will rescue him."

Before Wolverine could further argue, Forge turns and storms out of the war room. His mind made up, he heads straight to the Blackbird.

"Forge! Wait up!" Kitty calls out.

"Don't try to stop me Kitty!" Forge shouts, not bothering to slow down.

"I'm not going to stop you. I'm coming with you," Kitty tells him.

"You don't need to," Forge replies before finally stopping to look back.

"I know that. But let's face it, you need me. Unless your plan is just to ram the jet into the building," Kitty points out.

Forge doesn't reply to this and Kitty's eyes widen.

"That really wasn't your plan, was it?" She asks suspiciously.

"Hadn't thought of a plan yet," Forge answers, turning away to wipe his eyes before pulling his goggles down.

"Well you better think of one," Scott calls out.

Forge turns back again and see's the rest of the team enter the hallway.

"W-w-what..." Forge stammers.

"Logan said to tell you that when he and Ororo get back, prepare for a very, very long lecture and some danger room sessions in the near future. As of right now however, we have been assigned to rescuing Toad from the MRD," Scott tells Forge. "We head out in thirty minutes. Black gear everyone."


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 15
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, Colonel Moss sighs.

"Again," he orders.

Colonel Moss, also known by his military nickname,Wraith, watches as his men step forward with the fire hose and sprays the green mutant. The mutant does all the same reactions before. He tries to beg just before the water slams into his face. Then as the water hits him, he struggles against the restraints. Colonel Moss knows that his struggles are doing more harm than good. But desperate creatures in their moment of fear don't think rationally. And Toad certainly fits into this category.

"Alright, that's enough," he tells his men.

The men step back obediently. Colonel Moss steps in front of the choking mutant.

"How many times are we going to do this Toad? I think my men are actually getting tired," Colonel Moss asks him.

He watches as the toad like mutant shakes his head in a vain effort to get the water off of his face. The mutant's body is shaking badly despite how tightly he was restrained to the metal chair. Colonel Moss smiles to himself. Since bringing Toad into here, he had ordered that the room tempt be at forty degrees. He had also ordered that the mutant's shirts be stripped. He could see clearly every breath the mutant made.

"Is it really so hard to answer just a few of my questions?" Colonel Moss asks.

"I-I told y-you, I don't k-know anything," Toad replies as his coughing calms down.

Warily, he looks up at the MRD Colonel. He knows that doing so angers the man but at this point Toad no longer cares.

"Then why were you at the scene of the crime? Hmm? What was the Brotherhood up to Toad? Tell me and you won't have to get another shower," Colonel Moss tells him, choosing to ignore the mutant's little act of defiance. That could always be worked on later.

"I told you. I'm not with them anymore. They weren't there. And you know it!" Toad shouts.

Colonel Moss stops his pacing suddenly and glares at the pitiful mutant. He notices the cringe but he doesn't enjoy it like he normally would.

"I know what?" Colonel Moss asks.

"That these attacks weren't caused by the Brotherhood. They were caused by the MRD to frame them!" Toad shouts.

Toad barely see's the hit coming but is helpless to do anything against it. His head violently rocks to the right as the fist connects with his jaw.

"Don't play games with me Toad! I don't know what lies Quicksilver put in your head but let me correct them. The Brotherhood are responsible for the Water street incident and now the Main Street incident. You have blood on your hands boy," Colonel Moss growls out the last sentence. He wonders for just a brief moment how much the Brotherhood had some how found out but throws the thought aside.

"And we're accused of being liars," Toad replies defiantly.

Colonel Moss hisses out in anger as he grabs a fist full of dreadlocks and violently yanks back Toad's head.

"That was just about the stupidest thing you could have said Toad. Now I have to teach you a lesson," Colonel Moss tells him.

Colonel Moss looks directly into the large eyes of the mutant, enjoying the fear he see's in them. But it's not enough. With his his free hand, he grabs Toad's exposed throat suddenly, receiving a frighten gasp. Slowly, so that Toad would understand what is happening to him Colonel Moss tells himself, he tightens the hand that is around the mutant's throat.

Toad's body tries to struggle from the hold but being restrained in the cold metal chair kept him from doing much. He feels the grip getting tighter and tighter around his throat. How it was getting harder and harder to get the smallest amount of air I to him. Toad is terrified beyond reason. His mind is screaming that Colonel Moss is going to actually kill him. And worse yet, he is looking him in the eyes as he does it.

"Things have changed Toad. I've been given permission to do with you as I see fit. And to kill you if need be," Colonel Moss informs him.

He enjoys seeing the disgustingly large eyes widen at this news. Believing Toad understands the situation, he releases his neck and hair. Colonel Moss takes a step back and notices the dark spots where his fingers were just pressing against the mutant green skin slowly grow darker. He will have bruises from this. Good, Moss thinks to himself.

"Now, I'll ask one more time. What was the Brotherhood up to at Main Street?" Colonel Moss asks.

Moss waits patiently for Toad to again breath normally before he answers.

"T-the others weren't t-there. Or if they were, I-I didn't know,"Toad answers, keeping his head down.

Colonel Moss decides to switch topics here for he knows Toad is telling the truth. He knew that the Brotherhood had not been reported to have been at the scene and no one had seen any of the members except for Toad there.

"When did they finally get rid of you Toad?" Moss asks.

"Main Street. I was trapped," Toad reveals, his voice becoming raspy.

"Trapped?"

"Under the building," Toad specifies.

Colonel Moss suddenly bursts out laughing.

"You were buried under the same building that your little terrorist group targeted? Oh, that is good. It's a shame you got out. How did you manage that?" Colonel Moss asks.

"I...squeezed through an opening," Toad lies. He wasn't going to reveal that he was saved by the X-men. Not because Moss would get another laugh but because he didn't want them to become the new focus of the MRD's attention.

"An opening huh? So what happened then? You crawled back to your little kiddy group?" Moss questions.

"No. They never came back for me so I knew it was over," Toad answers.

"I don't blame them. Personally I never understood why Quicksilver kept you around. You visited my little detainment camps more than any mutant I know of. If I had to keep bailing you out, well, I would have stopped long ago," Colonel Moss comments. "I'd almost say he saw something special in you but let's be honest, there is nothing special about you."

Toad doesn't say anything. He thinks suddenly of Jon and knows that Moss is wrong. Jon saw something in him. Jon had been able to see past the horrible green skin and see him. Toad smiles as he thinks about the X-man.

"What is making you so happy suddenly?" Colonel Moss hisses. How dare this disgusting mutant smile.

"Because you're wrong," Toad states firmly, again looking at Moss.

Colonel Moss feels his pulse pick up. The pathetic Brotherhood mutant is actually trying to be defiant. There wasn't even a trace of fear in his eyes. Moss promises himself that he will have that corrected.

"Get him out of that chair. Make sure his legs are shackled. Then you men can show him how you felt about their recent attacks. You can do whatever you wish as long as you don't kill him. And make the room five degrees colder," Colonel Moss orders.

He hears the 'yes sir's from his fellow men and leaves the room, knowing his orders will be followed. Toad would be getting what Moss had always felt the mutant had coming. What he had wished they could have done every time he was brought to one of their mutant camps. If he had been allowed to do this sooner, then maybe Toad wouldn't have been visiting them so often. Oh well, Moss tells himself, better late than never.

Later, Colonel Moss receives a rather surprising visit. As he headed to the front gate of the detainment camp, he wonders if possibly the officer who told him who their surprise visitors were was somehow mistaken. He hopes for the man's future that this isn't some sort of prank. But as he approaches the gate, he see's that the man was right. The X-men were paying him a visit. He recognizes the mutant wearing a visor. Went by the code name Cyclops. And the large blue monster next to him was Beast.

"And what do I owe the pleasure of this little unexpected visit to today? Have you realized what a menace you truly are and decide to turn yourselves in?" Colonel Moss asks, his voice icy.

"We're here to give you a warning Moss," Cyclops replies.

"Oh? What kind of warning?" Colonel Moss asks, rolling his eyes. He wishes he could just order his men to apprehend these mutants. Only reason he couldn't was because of some agreement between their factions.

"We have intelligence that the Brotherhood have plans to target this base. And I believe you would know why," Beast tells him.

Colonel Moss thinks of Toad for a moment. But didn't the mutant just tell him earlier that he was no longer a part of them? His eyes narrow. When these pretend heroes for the mutant race finally get off his base, he plans to teach Toad the meaning of honesty.

"They are going to attack here you say? And when is this supposed attack going to happen?" Colonel Moss asks.

Just as he asks this, the whole detainment camp suddenly goes dark. As Colonel Moss looks about, he hears his men begin to shout orders or panic.

"Looks like they are attacking now Colonel Moss," Cyclops tells him.

Meanwhile, Forge and Kitty were in the control center of the detainment camp. Two unconscious soldiers laid against each other in the corner. Forge is typing away commands into the main console.

"Lights are out. Camera feed is being destroyed," Forge reports.

"Do you know where he is?" Kitty asks.

"Not yet...there. He's in the back in a large cell. There are five men with him," Forge tells her.

"Once the camera feed is destroyed, I'll destroy the that console. Nightcrawler will take you to him," Kitty tells him.

Forge nods and continues typing. He had kept the power on but was turning it off in various sections. He knows doors are mysteriously opening, security devices are powering down and the alarms are silent. Finally he's finished.

"Done," Forge reports as he gets up and steps back from the console.

He watches as Kitty runs through the machine, frying it's circuits. It's one of the few times he doesn't mind seeing a machine die for lack of better wording. When she runs back into the room, she grabs his arm and phases them both through the wall and into the hall where Nightcrawler is waiting for them.

"He's located in the back," Forge tells him.

"I think I know where. There's a room being guarded by three men," Nightcrawler reports. He grabs both Kitty and Forge and teleports them.

Toad is lying on the floor, curled into a ball as tightly as he could manage. He's waiting for the men to go back to hitting him with their electrified batons or kicking him with their steel toed boots. He could hear them talking to the men standing outside the cell. A moment ago the door suddenly opened and they couldn't close it.

"Some of the men think this is a Brotherhood attack," one of the men tell the others.

"You think they are coming for him?"

"If that's the case, maybe we should..."

"What are you thinking?! You heard Moss! We can't kill him!"

"So what, we should wait until they bust in here?"

"What if we make it so that even if they come in here, he can't just walk out of here?"

"Make it more work for them."

"Maybe they will see he's not worth the effort and just leave him here."

"Moss didn't say we couldn't break bones."

This last statement makes Toad whimper in terror. He could feel them looking at him. His teeth are chattering, his already bruised body is shaking from a mixture of the cold and fear. He hears them walk back over, surrounding his curled form.

"You hear that Mutie? We're going to make sure you can never walk out of here." One of the men tell him.

Toad covers his face with his hands when he see's the raised baton, it's sparks of charged electricity lighting up the room, above him. He flinches when he hears it hit against the floor. It takes him a moment to realize that it hit the floor and not him. Then he hears the sounds of fighting. Even though he wondered what was happening, he didn't dare move his hands from his face. He cries out when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy Mort! It's me," a familiar voice tells him.

"Jon?" Mortimer whispers, still not moving his hands. Maybe it's a trick. A very cruel one.

"Yes. I need you to stay still, I'm going to get these off of you,"Jon tells him.

Mortimer hears the sounds of the restraints on his legs being cut apart. This is when he dares himself to lower his hands. Jon is kneeling before him, his mechanical hand shifting back into a resemblance of a hand. Jon meets his gaze for a moment before pulling Mortimer's freezing body to his.

"We're ready!" Jon calls out.

Mortimer is confused by this statement but before he could ask, he feels the world seem to shrink around him until he could no longer feel the ground. When the sensation left him, he finds himself being held in Jon's arms tightly. He hears a hum of an engine.

"Are you okay?" Jon asks him, trying to look over Mortimer's body.

"Y-y-yeah," Mortimer manages to get out as his teeth begin to chatter again.

"Here," Kitty says and holds out an emergency blanket to Jon.

Jon takes it and wraps it around Mortimer's shivering body. Mortimer reaches his hand out and clutches Jon's black shirt. Nodding, Jon pulls Mortimer's body back to himself and simply holds him tightly. When Scott and Hank return to the jet and they take off, through the whole return trip, Mortimer didn't let go of Jon's shirt and Jon didn't loosen his hold until they landed.


	16. Final Chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buried
> 
> Chapter 16
> 
> Wolverine and the X-men fan fiction
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own the Wolverine and the X-men. Not sure who does but it isn't me. Please do not sue me.
> 
> Warning: This is a slash of Forge/Mort. Slash means guy/guy. This is a different story not related to my previous one titled "Touch" or "Lost and Found". This story most likely with have some angst and possibly some sexual content, not sure yet on that. Please do not read if these topics disturb you.
> 
> Please leave feedback! :)
> 
> __________________________________________________________________________________________

Hours later, Jon is half carrying Mortimer to their room. Hank had just given the okay for Mortimer to leave the infirmary after checking a series of x-rays. Mortimer kept insisting he was okay but he couldn't win against Hank and Jon. So he allowed the tests, the x-rays and the basic examination. Finally, Hank reported that he is badly bruised and suffered only minor injuries with the exception of a few cracked ribs. He was instructed to get plenty of bed rest and that he needed to warm up his body.

Jon reaches the door, muttering at the keypad as he enters the password. Strangely, Jon hadn't said much since rescuing him from the cell. In fact, he hadn't said anything to Mortimer since asking if he was okay. This is scaring Mortimer more than even the session with Moss. He wants to stop Jon, he wants to look into his dark eyes and see if he could somehow see Jon's thoughts. But he knows better. So he allows himself to be led to the bed.

With his artificial arm, Jon pulls back the blanket and carefully lowers Mortimer onto the bed. Mortimer slowly lays himself out, biting his lower lip in his efforts to muffle the moans of pain as his bruised body comes into contact with the mattress. Jon pulls the blanket over Mortimer's shivering body.

"Stay here. I'll be right back," Jon tells him quietly.

Mortimer nods. He hopes these won't be the only words Jon will say as he watches the X-man leave the room.

It's several minutes later when Jon returns, bringing with him two more thick blankets. Mortimer does his best to stay still as Jon covers him with these blankets, wishing Jon would say anything to him at this point. He loses sight of Jon when he moves to the other side of the bed, where Mortimer's back is facing him. But Mortimer listens. He hears the bed squeak just slightly, letting him know that Jon has sat down on the bed. There is a couple of thuds and some strange faint rustling sounds before Mortimer feels Jon crawl over to him and moves himself under the blankets.

Mortimer goes stiff when he feels Jon's arms wrap around his body. It's not the gesture itself but what he feels that makes him do this. Mortimer is still without a shirt, for he refused to put on one of those hideous hospital gowns on. So his exposed skin could feel Jon's warm bare chest press against his cold back.

"Jon..." Mortimer says the man's name nervously.

"Hmm?" Jon replies as he rests his chin on Mortimer's shoulder and lays his flesh leg over Mort's own.

"Are you...okay with this?" Mortimer asks.

"I wouldn't be doing it if I wasn't," Jon answers in his ear.

"Oh.." Mortimer says, loosing his nerve to ask anything else.

"Mort, I'm so sorry," Jon whispers, gently squeezing Mortimer as he said this.

"Sorry for what?" Mortimer cries out. He tries to shift so he could look at Jon but Jon holds him firm.

"For everything. I shouldn't have taken you into town like Scott said. I should have paid more attention to everything around us. I shouldn't have sent you after the girls. I should...have been more careful. If I had done any of that, you wouldn't have been captured," Jon explains, his voice growing weaker at the end.

"What are you talking about? None of that was your fault!" Mortimer tells Jon sternly. Is this why Jon hadn't said much, he wonders, because he feels guilty? "I wanted to go out! And I really liked going out with you. There was no way you could have known that the MRD were going to do that. And I got captured because it was the only thing I could do to protect you. Like I told Cyclops, I would walk into an MRD camp before letting them get you. So please, don't hate me for that."

Mortimer struggles not to cry. He is hating that Jon has been blaming himself for what happened.

"I can't hate you, Mort. But I was scared the moment I saw the MRD chasing you. I...I was afraid we wouldn't make in time," Jon whispers.

"But you did. Those guards were going to make it so I couldn't walk again. You saved me. You're the only person who has truly done that for me," Mortimer quietly replies.

"You don't need to flatter me Mort. I know the Brotherhood has broken you out of the camps before," Jon says with a heavy sigh.

"That's different. They broke me out so they could...try to use me. And one time they were going to leave me in there. But you didn't break me out to use me, right?" Mortimer asks, suddenly afraid that maybe he is misunderstanding Jon.

"No, no I didn't. I got the team to rescue you because I love you and couldn't stand the possibility of not having you with me any more," Jon tells Mortimer, gently kissing Mort's shoulder.

"Then stop blaming yourself," Mort tells Jon.

"I will if you stop blaming yourself for that little girl that died," Jon replies.

Mortimer again goes stiff. He hasn't said a word about the little girl and how, even though the Brotherhood had been cleared of the incident, Mortimer still felt guilty. Often he wonders if they had just let this mission pass, maybe the whole incident would never have happened. Without the Brotherhood's appearance, the MRD could not have enacted their plan.

"How did..." Mortimer starts to ask.

"Because you would apologize in your sleep, even after we found out what the MRD did. So that's the deal. I'll let go if you do," Jon offers.

Mortimer thinks this over. Slowly, he tries to roll over and Jon let's him this time. Mortimer looks into Jon's eyes and smiles.

"I can't make any promises. But I'll try," Mortimer replies, hoping Jon will accept this.

"Works for me," Jon agrees with a smile before shifting forward and kisses Mortimer.

Mortimer closes his eyes and let's himself enjoy the kiss. When Jon licks his lips, Mortimer obediently parts his lips which allows Jon's tongue to enter his mouth. He feels Jon's fleshly hand run through his dreadlocks while the other made of steel lightly strokes the side of Mort's body. Mortimer moans and shivers not from the coldness that is fading from his body but from the skillful touches of Jon.

There is a knock on their door along with a shout.

"Forge, hope you aren't taking advantage of him in there! Dropping off a gift for you two!" Kitty shouts.

Both moan in annoyance and Jon raises his head to look over Mort, catching a glimpse of Kitty's hand phasing through the door and drops a white envelope before phasing back through. He sighs and looks back down at Mort.

"Should I?" Is all Jon gets out before Mortimer reaches out and pulls Jon down into another kiss. Jon doesn't resist in the slightest, only breaking the kiss when he needed to catch his breath.

Both catch their breath and simply look at each other. While Mortimer is observing every detail of Jon's features, burning them to memory, Jon is looking over the dark bruise on the left side of Mortimer's face. Lightly, he caresses his fingers over the bruise.

"How did this happen?" Jon asks quietly.

"Wraith. I told him that it was their fault not the Brotherhood's for what happened," Mort replies. 

Mortimer watches the sadness come over Jon's features like a slow ripple. It starts with his eyes Mortimer notices.

Jon leans down and gently kisses the bruised cheek.

"And these small bruises on your neck?" Jon whispers this question.

"Again, Wraith," Mortimer answers, nearly whispering himself.

"Why? How?" Jon asks.

"I called him a liar. Not directly but still. So he showed me that he didn't have to hold back anymore with me. Told me...he could kill me if he wanted. I-I really thought he was going to," Mortimer shares with Jon, his body trembling as he remembers feeling the hand becoming tighter and tighter around his neck.

Jon doesn't say anything to this. He gently lifts Mortimer's chin and begins to kiss each bruise tenderly. Mortimer gasps at the gentle contact being made with his sensitive skin. He was really enjoying the sensations going through his body with every touch and kiss. Jon notices Mort's reactions and decides to experiment. He kisses on a spot on Mort's neck that don't have a bruise then he licks it before sealing his lips around it.

Mortimer's eyes widen for a moment before closing again. He feels Jon gently pushing him onto his back and Mortimer obliges. Jon carefully positions himself on top of Mortimer and releases Mort's neck. Jon raises himself and looks down at Mortimer who opens his eyes slightly.

"Are you okay with this? I could stop now," Jon tells him.

"It's almost like being buried again," Mortimer shares his thought.

Jon is alarmed by this statement and is about to move off of Mortimer when Mortimer wraps his arms around Jon's neck and his powerful legs wrap around Jon's waist.

"I like it. And I'm not ready to come to the surface just yet," Mortimer tells him, hoping Jon understands what he is implying.

Jon smiles and nods his head. He reaches behind him and pulls the blankets over their heads before he passionately kisses Mortimer again.

As the two embrace each other, the envelope that Kitty had dropped remains on the ground forgotten. It's contents half spilled on the floor. Pictures of the pair on their date are pooled on the floor. When the pair finds them later, their favorite one will be the one lying face up. It's of them holding hands outside the movie theatre, looking not at the now playing posters but at each other.


End file.
